


The One Where Chloé Knows

by Cornerverse



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chloé knows everyone's identity, Chloé reformation arc, F/F, F/M, Identity Reveal, Officially to many Sailor Moon references, One-Sided Attraction, fox!alya - Freeform, turtle!nino
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-09-23 21:54:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9680639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornerverse/pseuds/Cornerverse
Summary: Chloé learns that Marinette is Ladybug. When confronting her about it, she tells a bit more than she wanted to. Marinette suggests an idea: Being nicer to people. She tries, and attempts to make up for years of bullying. Of course, it's more complicated than it seems, especially when half of your newfound friend group are superheroes trying to keep their identities from one another.(On an indefinite hiatus. I plan on continuing this, but not sometime soon. Sorry.)





	1. Chapter 1

               When most people in the city heard the sounds of an Akuma attack, they made their way towards the screaming. It makes little sense, but they’re curious to see who got turned into what. Most were cautious, but there were some like that girl Alya who all but jumped right into the battle.

               The only person who ran away from an attack, was Chloé Bourgeois. A fair amount of Akumas came for her anyway, so as curious as she was, she didn’t want to run straight towards the ones that wouldn’t attack her.

               So when walking out of the school this afternoon, she heard screaming and ran back inside. Adrien had slipped out of her hold on his arm and disappeared, but he always disappeared during Akuma Attacks. Sabrina must have gotten lost in the crowd as Chloé ran back inside for cover.

               She pushed her way through people and ducked into the first empty, windowless, classroom she could. She dropped down on the other side of the teacher’s desk and tried to calm herself.  Unfortunately someone else opened and closed the door.

               Chloé didn’t think it was an Akuma come to attack her, as they rarely use doors. Still, she didn’t want to poke her head over the top of the desk. She pulled a small compact mirror out of her purse and used it to see around the corner.

               She was happy to see that it was only Marinette. As relief flooded her she even let herself smile at the girl’s reflection. Then anger replaced that. She doesn’t want to feel happy when seeing Marinette. She shouldn’t feel happy about seeing Marinette.

               Chloé was about to step out and demand to know why Marinette wasn’t off seeing the new Akuma. But in the reflection she saw a small red thing float out of Marinette’s purse. She stayed down and watched.

               “Tikki! Transform me!” Marinette exclaimed.

               Chloé dared to poke her head out for a better view than just her mirror. A bright pink light enveloped Marinette. When the glow faded, she saw the hero Ladybug in her place.

               Marinette was Ladybug. It somehow made no sense, and made so much sense at the same time. By the time she recovered enough to even attempt to get her attention, Ladybug was already long gone.

               It wasn’t so much that she was in denial of what just happened. No, it was more that her brain had stopped working. She couldn’t move. She wasn’t even sure she was breathing. She probably would have stayed there all night if her phone hadn’t buzzed.

               It was an update from the Ladyblog, which meant the fight had started. The posts so far said that the new Akuma called themselves ‘Silencer’, and they hate noise. Her thumb hovered over the button to a livestream of the fight.

               She opened the video just in time to see Silencer literally toss Chat Noir out of the fight. Ladybug tried to use her yoyo, but Silencer used it to pull her closer and go for hand-to-hand combat.

               Usually she didn’t worry too much about Ladybug. After all, a superhero has much more strength and durability than humans. But this Akuma was bigger, in height, weight, and muscle mass. Silencer already threw Chat Noir with ease, who knew how much damage her hits could cause.

               Silencer’s size didn’t seem to have come from her Akumatization. She wasn’t some kind of monster like StoneHeart or Horrificator, or even a large weird outfit like Bubbler or Reflekta. She was just a girl with wild red hair. She seemed to be wearing a low-cut lavender tank top and short jean shorts and black combat boots. The vest was quite odd, its front only half way down her torso with its back flaring out like a fancy coat. She had lavender thigh-high socks, showing a strip of skin between them and her shorts, and matching fingerless gloves that went up her arms, stopping just short of the shoulder. Silver bands decorated her wrists and biceps.

               Silencer grew impatient quickly. Her hand glowed pink, and she sent a blast of energy straight into Ladybug’s chest. Chloé audibly gasped as Ladybug flew backward. She seemed unharmed, but Silencer didn’t seem to care about her anymore.

               Ladybug took the opportunity to cast her Lucky Charm. She threw her yoyo in the air, but nothing happened.  She tried again. Her hand went to her throat as she tried to speak, but no sound came out.

               “Silencer hates noise,” Chloé muttered to herself. “She took your voice. And Lucky Charm only works if you can speak.”

               Ladybug tried to signal to Chat Noir, who was just getting back to the fight. He couldn’t speak either, but Chloé knew he was dying to say ‘Cat got your tongue?’. Even without words, the two of them got a plan together. Chat Noir went after Silencer, while Ladybug practically disappeared.

               She scaned every inch of the screen, looking for even a flash of Ladybug red. She wished she was there, and not confined to wherever the camera was pointed.

               A noise blared out of her phone, nearly making her drop it. She scrambled for the volume buttons as the camera swiveled to a stage in a nearby park. Ladybug was on stage holding a guitar. If the sound was any indication, she had turned the volume up as high as it could go.

               Ladybug seemed to say something before going back to the guitar. She was fairly good, but that wasn’t the point. Silencer was covering their ears, cringing at the sound. They concentrated long enough to blast more pink energy at Ladybug, but she dodged out of the way.

               Silencer completely forgot about Chat Noir until he snatched the headphones off their head. Ladybug dropped the guitar and pulled out her yoyo to purify the Akuma. Thankfully fixing everything didn’t need her voice.

               Ladybug stayed long enough to get the Akuma Victim back on her feet before taking off. She always disappeared quickly. She always scheduled interviews at different times, never answering questions after.

               Chloé watched the rest of the video, which was mostly just Alya interviewing the victim. Even after it stopped, she sat there for a few moments, collecting her thoughts.

               When she did get up, she went straight home. Thankfully nothing happened on the way back. She told the staff not to bother her, and texted Sabrina that she’d come down with a headache. It wasn’t entirely untrue, but she still got many angry texts about it.

               Even though it was still very early, she changed into pajamas and flopped into her bed. Her walk home had gotten her mind working again, but she was still trying to work through what she saw.

               Marinette was Ladybug. It made plenty of sense. Both were kind and generous and clever. They had a determination and passion that couldn’t be matched. She fights for what she believes in. It’s almost ridiculous that she didn’t figure it out sooner.

               Honestly, they look exactly the same. They both had black hair that looked almost blue in the sunlight. Her eyes were as deep and as blue as an ocean in the middle of the night. And her freckles. Chloé had spent a fair amount of time looking at pictures of Ladybug and finding patterns in those freckles as if they were constellations.

               She remembered when Ladybug would grab and carry her out of danger. She smelled like freshly baked cookies and strawberry shampoo. She bet that if Marinette would smell the same. As soon as she realized where that train of thought was going and she shut it down.

               She tried thinking of other things, but her mind kept wandering back to Ladybug, to Marinette. She wondered how being Ladybug worked. Obviously it was a magical thing, kind of like the shows she’d watch with Adrien, not that she’d admit to knowing about them.

               The biggest mystery is why Ladybug still saved her. It’s not that she wasn’t thankful for all the times she’d been rescued, but Chloé had done so much to make Marinette hate her. Obviously, it hadn’t worked. And a part of her was clinging to that; holding onto the idea that Marinette might not completely hate her.

               She rolled over again, trying to squash down that part of her mind. She’d been squashing down feelings like that for four years now. And she should have done the same when Ladybug made her feel the same.

               She knew why she didn’t. Ladybug was safe. She could say anything about Ladybug, and no one would think anything about it. Chloé would just be another fan. And a superhero is an unobtainable figure, no matter how much you wish you could.

               But now, Ladybug was Marinette. Chloé had tried to push Marinette away, to make her hate her. It would be easy if she hated her because then she’d be unobtainable too. Yet Ladybug saved her every time, which meant it hadn’t worked.

               She had to know where she went wrong. Which was difficult since she couldn’t just text her and ask. She’d have to wait until tomorrow.

               Though she had been sure that all those feelings would keep her up through the night, exhaustion eventually carried her to sleep.

               Like most dreams, the unimportant was nothingness, like the walls and floor were made of clouds. Chloé was standing on a ledge, looking down on Ladybug and an Akuma. The Akuma was also blurry, she couldn’t even guess at what it was supposed to be other than a shape. But in a dream, you don’t question what you can’t see.

               The one thing that was in vivid detail, was Ladybug. She was backed against a wall as the Akuma loomed towards her. She looked for a way out, just a chance to distract it and get away. The scene reminded Chloé of a show she’d watched with Adrien a while back.

               Right as the Akuma was about to leap at Ladybug, Chloé threw something at it. A small object whistled through the air before landing at the Akuma’s feet, and freezing it in place.

               “What are you waiting for?” she called to her. “You can do this!”

               Ladybug nodded, and grabbed her Lucky Charm. She threw it at the Akuma, and grabbed the object, and broke the butterfly out of it. She watched as Ladybug purified the Akuma, and everything felt back to normal.

               Chloé jumped down from where she had been as the Akuma blurred to mist and disappeared. She paid no attention to it. She walked up to Ladybug, and took her face in her hands, and pulled her closer.

               The kiss was electric. It was warm and sent shivers down her spine. Or maybe that was just Ladybug’s hands. She ran her thumb across Ladybug’s cheek. She had expected to feel the edge of the mask, but there was nothing there.

               She pulled back, and instead of Ladybug , she was looking into Marinette’s eyes. Those beautiful eyes. She leaned back in and kissed her again. She never wanted it to end.

               Unfortunately her alarm went off.

               Chloé woke up in her bed. The morning sun glowing through her window. It took her a moment to remember her dream, to remember what happened yesterday.

               “I really am screwed, aren’t I?” she asked herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally forgot, but here's a visual for Silencer:  
> http://cornerverse.tumblr.com/post/143151465634/whoops-a-little-late-for-akumasonamiracusona


	2. Chapter 2

               Chloé was impatient. She always was, but she still hated waiting all class. She might’ve snapped at Sabrina in her frustration, especially after she started arguing with her about not being able to hang out two days in a row without explaination. But she had to talk to Marinette. She didn’t even bother waking out the building with Adrien.

               She was worried that she’d lose Marinette in the crowd of students leaving, but it only took a moment to spot her. Unfortunately, she wasn’t alone. Alya was with her, of course. She forgot about that. Even so, she took a breath and walked up to them.

               “Marinette, I need to talk to you right now,” she announced.

               “What insult are you coming up with today?”  Alya asked, rolling her eyes.

               “I need to talk to you alone,” she said, ignoring her.

               “For what?” Marinette answered. She looked at her suspiciously, and despite her defensive posture, looked more open to talking.

               “Because-“ she realized she hadn’t thought of an excuse. “Because I- er, I saw you playing guitar yesterday and wanted to know where you learned it!”

               It was a pathetic excuse, but it was all she could come up with. Alya gave her an unimpressed stare, but Marinette had frozen up. She could hear the gears turning in her head.

               “A-actually Alya I think I should,” Marinette said. “I’ll text you when I get home, alright?”

               “Are you nuts?” Alya asked. Looking at the determination on her face, she just sighed. “Fine, but if you get murdered or akumatized, I know who to blame.”

               Alya gave her one last glare before leaving. Before she knew it, Marinette had grabbed her wrist and dragged her through the crowd and back into the building. She thought about digging her heels into the ground and saying she can walk on her own, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so.

               Eventually she was dragged into an empty classroom. It wasn’t the same one as yesterday, but it was quite similar. No windows.

               “Jagged Stone,” Marinette said.

               “What?” Chloé asked, bringing her attention back to her.

               “You wanted to know where I learned to play the guitar, right?” she said. “Jagged Stone taught me.”

               “Usually I’d say you were lying but you hate lying,” she said. “How’d you manage that?”

               “Well I made those glasses for him,” she answered. “And he liked them so much that he asked me to make his album cover. And he asked about future album covers, and we got to talking about my designing, and we’re kind of friends now? He’s kind of like a weird older brother or something, and he showed me the basics on the guitar.”

               “Huh,” she said. “But we both know that’s not why I’m here.”

               “I have no idea what you mean!” she exclaimed, hands becoming more animated. “You asked about the guitar!”

               “You’re not good at lying,” she chuckled.

               “I’m not lying!” she insisted.

               “Marinette, I know you’re Ladybug,” she stated.

               “That’s ridiculous!” she exclaimed. “You point out every day how I can’t walk down the hall without tripping. Do you really think I could swing across Paris with a yoyo? ”

               “I saw you yesterday,” she said. “In the empty classroom. A little red thing flew out of your purse, and you went through some kind of magical transformation into Ladybug. The chances of convincing me it didn’t happen are pretty low.”

               Marinette stammered for a moment, then began pacing back and forth. Chloé waited as she debated with herself.

               “What do you want?” Marinette demanded, breaking the silence.

               “What?” she asked.

               “What do you want?” she repeated. “Some kind of blackmail? Ladybug gets to be your best friend? I back off of Adrien? Personal slave? What kind of price are you putting your silence at?”

               “N-none?”She hadn’t thought of any of that.

               “What else is there?” she asked. “Why would you even bother to tell me then?”

               “I-I just wanted to know why you save me?” she said, sinking to the floor. “After everything I’ve done, why would you bother to save me?”

               Marinette practically deflated. She sighed and sat down next to her.

               “I’m not going to just let you die,” Marinette said.

               “Your powers can fix anything caused by an Akuma,” Chloé said. “No one’s died yet, but there’ve been injuries. It’s not a stretch to think you could bring someone back. No one would blame you.”

               “It’s not the blame,” she said. “I don’t know if I could bring someone back, and I’d rather not try. But even if I could, I can’t just let you die.”

               “But you’re supposed to hate me!” she exclaimed. “What do I have to do to make you hate me enough to just let me go?”

               “I-I don’t-“ she tried to think of what to say. “I don’t think you can do anything to make me hate you enough to let you die? You’re rude, selfish, and entitled, but you’d actually have to, like, I don’t know, be some supervillain hellbent on world domination before I hate you.”

               Her breathing hitched. Nothing she could do would make her hate her. A part of her felt elated, wanting to jump for joy. Instead, she sank lower and put her head between her knees. She felt Marinette tentatively place her hand on her back. She gave a half-hearted chuckle.

               “It would be easier if you insult me instead of comforting,” Chloé said.

               “What are you talking about?” Marinette asked. “I thought you’d be glad I don’t hate you? Wait, did you want me to hate you?”

               “Yes,” she answered.

               “Why would anyone want someone to hate them?” she asked.

               She stayed quiet for a moment. She should yell and scream, say something rude. Try to save what little she has left. But Marinette didn’t, couldn’t, hate her. She gave up.

               “I know a lot about our classmates,” Chloé said. “I could tell you likes and dislikes, fears, all sorts of things. I have to. It’s the only way to stay on top. To be perfect. To not lose what you have.Reputation is everything. If you’re not perfect, your life is torn apart. What friends you have leave, so it’s better not to try. Just use them to get what you want.”

               “Chloé, that’s not how it works,” Marinette said.

               “Of course it is,” she said. “When I started trying to make you hate me, how many people do you think asked me why? I didn’t expect them to jump to ‘Maybe Marinette is actually rude and Chloé’s in the right!”, but they didn’t even think ‘maybe Marinette accidently did something rude! You know how clumsy she can be or how she gets her words mixed up when flustered!’. They just assumed I was some terrible, petty, person. Any chance I had of getting more friends went out the window, not that I’d been planning on making them my friends. So if they were going to hate me anyway, I might as well live up to expectations and use them to get what I really want.”

               Guilt washed over Marinette’s face. No, she hadn’t asked. Then again, Marinette didn’t have to, she was there. She knew she hadn’t done anything. Marinette had been nothing but sweet and kind to her.

               “The easiest thing to learn about people is who they like,” she continued. “Red cheeks, flustered stammering, longing stares from across the classroom, you’d be surprised how easy it is to see. Some are, of course, more obvious than others.”

               Marinette gave a nervous chuckle.

               “Did you know that everyone in our class who is into girls has had a crush on you at some point?” she asked.

               “I’m sure that’s not-“ she began. “I mean, I know Nathaniel did, but still-“

               “It is.” She said. “Nathaniel was one of the most recent, and before that was Nino. He actually started liking you at the tail end of last year, and didn’t notice when his crush shifted to Alya because he was used to looking in your direction. And-and most of them are over their crush but I-I can’t!”

               “Did-did you just say you had a crush on me?” she asked.

               “Yes,” she admitted. Somehow it didn’t make her feel better.

               “Then why-?” she tried to ask.

               “I don’t want to!” she shouted. “I’m not supposed to like you!”

               “Chloé, there’s nothing wrong with being gay,” she said.

               “I know!” she shouted again. “I know it’s ‘okay to be gay’, but not if you’re me! It’s okay for you, or for Adrien, or for anyone else in our class! But I can’t! I’m the Mayor’s Daughter! Do you have any idea what that would do for his career? Let’s just say that if I was ‘out’ a few months ago, D’Argencourt would’ve won the election!”

               “I’m sure that’s not true?” her voice wavered.

               “And Ladybug made that worse!” she continued. “I tried to make you hate me so that I wouldn’t have a chance! It was the only way I could stop it! It worked, for the most part. I wasn’t exactly crushing on you anymore, but you were still cute and nice and it was just general gay thoughts.

“And then Ladybug showed up!” she went on. “I thought I’d never have a chance with Ladybug anyway, so I didn’t care about making her hate me! And I fell for you again! And now I-I can’t even make you hate me! How can I screw that up so badly?”

               She dropped her head again.  Was she hyperventilating? She was hyperventilating. She felt dizzy. She felt ready to pass out. Aren’t you supposed to see black when you pass out? Why was everything glowing red?

               She looked up, and would have shot backward had there not been a desk to stop her. Something small and red was floating in front of her, radiating a calming energy. Something oddly familiar.

               “Tikki!” Marinette exclaimed.

               “You’re that doll,” Chloé muttered. “Wait, you’re the red thing I saw yesterday, right?”

               “My name is Tikki,” she said. “You already know Marinette is Ladybug, so I didn’t mind coming out to comfort you.”

               “So, you’re probably some kind of magical guardian that makes Superheroes?” she guessed.

               “How did you guess?” she laughed.

               “You have no idea how many Magical Girl shows Adrien made me watch,” she answered.

               “Are you feeling better now?” she asked.

               “Calmer, at least,” she said. “I-I don’t know if ‘better’ will happen.”

               “I’ll let the two of you talk on your own again, then,” she said. She turned to Marinette. “Tell me if you need me.”

               Tikki settled back into Marinette’s open purse. She stared up at them intently, waiting for them to go on. Chloé didn’t know where to start. What else could she say? Honestly she just wanted to go home. She wanted to erase the last two days. At least she was safe from being an Akuma for this.

               “So, uh” Marinette tried to say. “Does anyone else know you’re, um, gay?”

               “Adrien does,” Chloé answered. “He actually figured it out before I did.”

               “Really?” she asked. “Er, how, if you don’t mind?”

               “Might as well tell you,” she said. “I’ve got nothing else to lose.”

               “Hey, that’s not-“ She said

               “I’m kidding,” she interrupted. “A few years back we were, oh god don’t laugh at me. Adrien and I were watching Sailor Moon and- I said don’t laugh!”

               “I’m not laughing at you!” she defended, still chuckling.

               “Anyway!” she continued. “He made a comment on how amazing and pretty Sailor Moon was, and I agreed. Then he said that Tuxedo Mask was cute too, but I didn’t get why. And, okay he’s not the best at social interaction so he asked me about it and I hadn’t thought of it before.”

               “So the whole throwing yourself at him thing is a cover?” she asked.

               “It was his idea,” she said. “I pretend to be hopelessly in love with him, and no one guesses it’s fake. I told him he doesn’t have to pretend to like me that way. But it doubles as a protection from people who would, for lack of a better term, take advantage of us for money or power.”

               “That’s oddly brilliant?” she said. “Though you can take it a bit far.”

               “Well, we never expected him to actually get to public school,” she said. “So this last year has been a bit overkill.”

               “So, what are you going to do now?” she asked.

               “I-I don’t know,” she sighed. “What’s the point. I can’t make you hate me, so why bother trying? Not like it’ll change anything. They all hate me. They probably wouldn’t care if I tried being nice. And if I do end up being friends with them, what happens when I screw something up?

               “Chloé, that’s not how it works,” she said.

               Chloé only scoffed at the comment. Marinette scooted in front of her and held her shoulders. She forced the eye contact. Her expression was different. No smiling, no sweetness, just determination and the fierce kindness that makes you stop in your tracks. This was Ladybug.

               “I’m serious!” Marinette exclaimed. “I’m sorry that no one gave you a chance to explain. I’m sorry for whatever happened to make you feel like it’s not worth it, that we’re just going to leave you. But you can make things better. It may take time, but you can make them your friends, make up for years of meanness. You don’t even have to tell them why you did what you did or why you’re changing.

“And I-,” she continued. “I don’t know how to respond to you liking me that way. But I’m not going to turn you away for it.  Tikki and I can be your friends, if you let us. And Adrien’s still your friend. Sabrina would probably stay too. And everyone else will come around eventually.”

               Chloé knew it probably wouldn’t happen like that. It was overly optimistic thinking. Even so, Marinette’s confidence in what she was saying almost made her believe. Either it worked for a while, or it backfired and she’s just as alone as she was before. What did she have to lose?


	3. Chapter 3

                Eventually, a teacher found two students hiding in a classroom. They relocated to a nearby park, and continued talking. Marinette was trying to come up with ways for Chloé to be nicer and make up with their class.

                “I think I’d be best to start with Akumas you’ve caused,” Marinette said. “Apologize for that, and then make a general ‘I’m sorry for everything else I said’ apology.”

                “Of course Ladybug would pick that,” Chloé replied. “I can’t apologize to your uncle, and I’ve already made up with Sabrina. I could try to talk to Rose and Juleka.”

                Marinette stared at her. She almost looked like she was waiting for her to continue.

                “What?” she snapped.

                “There were more Akumas than that,” Marinette sighed.

                “No there weren’t!” she insisted.

                “You made Alya into Lady Wi-Fi,” she said.

                “She was taking pictures of the inside of my locker!” she exclaimed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have insisted that she should get expelled, but Mr. Damocles was going to let her off the hook! If you found someone rifling through your stuff and taking pictures of it, wouldn’t you want them to face punishment?”

                “What about Nathaniel?” she asked.

                “Yes, I teased him for his crush on you,” she said, “But considering Evilustrator was based around his art, he was more upset about Ms. Mendeleieve yelling at him for drawing in class and telling him his art sucks.”

                “Mylène?”

                “She was terrified. I’m, like, 95% sure Hawkmoth had already decided to make her a monster before I got there.”

                “Kim?”

                “Maybe it was a harsh rejection, but his problem was that I rejected him. What was I supposed to do? Date the guy so he won’t turn into a monster?”

                “Alix?”

                “Even she admitted it was her fault for not keeping her pocketwatch safe. I might’ve dropped it, but any of you could’ve put it in your pocket instead.”

                “Lieutenant Raincomprix?”

                “I did think you might’ve stolen the bracelet out of spite. Or maybe hoped you had since it would help me hate you. He wasn’t taking me seriously. “Are you sure you haven’t misplaced it?”. I didn’t expect Dad to fire him, I just wanted an actual investigation. My bracelet had actually been stolen. I saw Chat Noir have it, and now I have an idea at how it went missing.”

                “You’re not saying Chat hijacked your bracelet in front of the class, are you?”

                “No, but if he has a Kwami like you do, then it might’ve snagged it without being seen.”

                “That would mean Chat’s in our class?”

                “Er, would it? I mean, I’m sure his Kwami could get anywhere it wanted! Tikki ended up flung to me and took a trip all the way across the city before. His could have probably snagged it and gotten somewhere else!”

                That seemed reasonable enough for Marinette. She leaned back into the park bench.

                “And we’re back at square one for apologizing,” she sighed.

                “Well we still have Rose and Juleka,” she suggested. “And I guess since the whole point is ‘niceness’ I can try apologizing for being harsh. I’m not apologizing for being upset though.

                “How about Sabrina then?” she said.

                “I already apologized to Sabrina for getting her Akumatized,’ she said.

                “No, I mean the way you treat her,” she corrected. “Having her do your homework and carry your stuff around. I tried before, but since you’re more willing to listen this time-“

                “That’s not-“ she tried to say. “I don’t make her do those things.”

                “You don’t stop her though,” she said.

                “You tried to be her best friend for a day,” she sighed. “Let me guess what happened; she showed up with your homework already completed, but you had to do something as Ladybug and couldn’t make up an actual believable lie, so she got upset at you abandoning her and stormed off?”

                “Well, yeah,” she said, tucking loose hair behind her ear.

                “That happened when I first became her friend,” she said. “She got upset when I wanted to be alone. And I figured, ‘hey, if hanging out with her and letting her do my homework is the price for decent company, then why not?’.  I don’t know why.

“I mean, even now if I decide to spend time without her she freaks out unless I have a reason. Don’t get me wrong, she’s fun to be around, but there are days when I want to be alone, you know? And it only got worse after she got Akumatized.”

“Well, we can work on helping her too,” she said. “I don’t know how, but we’ll figure something out!”

“You’re very optimistic,” she said.

“Well, when you fight supervillains every other day,” she said.

*                                                                              *                                                                                     *

        Another morning. They’d go through with their plan, once Marinette got here. Of course, that would go better if she was actually on time for once. Right as the bell rang, Marinette stumbled into class. Her plan would have to wait until break.

        Chloé waved cautiously as Marinette passed her to get to her own seat. She waved back, a bit more enthusiastically. It got quite a few weird looks from the class. Alya and Nino were confused, and maybe a little suspicious. Adrien looked confused as well, but he looked over at her with a smile. She didn’t turn to see what anyone else thought.

        “What was that about?” Sabrina asked.

        “I’ll explain later,” she said, brushing her off.

        Sabrina pouted, but didn’t push further. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t. Class had started. Chloé tried to concentrate on her work, but her eyes kept flitting over to Marinette’s table.

        She could hear them whispering. Wondering. She ignored it. It was easy. She’d been ignoring their comments for years.

        Still, it was agonizing to wait. She kept glancing over at Marinette. Her mind went from ‘kiss her’ to ‘yell at her’ with nothing in between. It was what she’d been doing for so long, that her brain did it automatically.

        Eventually it was time for break. Chloé practically teleported to Marinette’s side as soon as their teacher left the room. Alya gave her a look, but she waved it off.

        “So, what do we do?” she asked.

        “Just like we talked about,” Marinette answered.

        Marinette stood up, and got the class’s attention before anyone left. She pulled Chloé beside her.

        “Everyone,” she announced. “Chloé here has something to say.”

        “I thought we were doing this individually?” she wondered.

        “I thought a group version would be a good start before individual ones,” she answered.

        Chloé sighed. It was a good idea. She just wished she knew it was happening.

        “Okay, fine, let’s start where I thought we were going to,” she agreed. “Rose, Juleka, I’m sorry for being a bitch and getting you guys turned into Akumas.”

        “It’s alright,” Rose said, ever chipper. “It turned out alright in the end.”

        “And to everyone else,” she continued, “I apologize for being as harsh as I was with things I was justified for. Like, Alya, the whole thing where you were taking pictures of the inside of my locker.”

        “You’re not about to bring that up again, are you?” Alya frowned.

        “Well, I’ve gotten over it if that’s what you mean,” she said. “I was just saying sorry for trying to get you expelled as punishment for it. It really should have been detention at most for violating my privacy like that. But hey, didn’t Ladybug have to break your phone? Would you like a new one?”

        “No?” she glanced at Marinette, who only facepalmed.

        “Alright,” she shrugged. “And Kim, sorry for rejecting you on Valentines. Well, not really ‘sorry’ exactly, as I’m probably not going to return your feelings, but I could totally buy you something. I saw these really nice running shoes last time I was shopping!”

        “What?” he asked.

        “Nathaniel!” she continued. “Your art is great, despite what some people like Ms. Mendeleieve think. Seriously, she was harsh, and that’s coming from me. I can’t get you a date with your dream girl but I do know of some really nice colored pencils that professional artists use!”

        “Alix!” she went on, ignoring the confused and somewhat annoyed looks. “I know the whole thing with your pocketwatch getting smashed was kind of a group catastrophe, since anyone could have put the thing in a pocket or something before it got to me.”

        “Nah, that was totally on me,” Alix said. “I mean, I could’ve put it in my pocket, or asked Dad to put it in my room or something.”

        “Exactly!” she exclaimed. “Still, I did drop it. How are your skates doing by the way? I know they’re the same as last years’, they’re in pretty good condition, but I’m sure we could find you something better.”

        “Maybe,” Alix said. “I usually upgrade what I have, but they are starting to get a bit tight on me.”

        “Maybe you’re finally hitting a growth spurt!” she said. “We can work something out later.”

        “Wait,” Alya stood up. “What are you doing?”

        Chloé looked at her. Wasn’t that a strange question?

        “I’m apologizing of course,” she said.

        “You’ve never apologized,” Max deadpanned.

        “Well I’m doing it now,” she said. “Marinette and I had a talk and she convinced me to at least try. I mean, I have nothing to lose. Either you start liking me or everything stays the same.”

        “That’s your plan?” she asked. “A half-assed ‘sorry you got upset when I was a bitch’ apology and offering to buy gifts? And you expect us to like you?”

        “Not really,” she shrugged. “But I really don’t care. At least I’m trying.”

        “Not really,” Nathaniel muttered.

        “Well I-“ she began

        Chloé’s argument was cut off by screams from outside. They looked at the window to see colored lights that screamed ‘Akuma’.

        The class walked out, either to see the Akuma or to find better hiding places. Most of them glared at her on the way out.

        “I don’t get it,” she sighed.

        “Of course you don’t,” Marinette sighed, having not yet left the room.

        “Hey, I tried,” she said.

        “Debatable,” she replied. “We’ll talk about it later. After I take care of the Akuma.”

        She ran off. Oddly, it hurt. Chloé hurt, seeing her disappointed in her. She should be used to that right? No, this was the first time Marinette had expectations for her.

        “Fine,” she mumbled. “I’ll try again.”


	4. Chapter 4

                Chloé didn’t want to stay in the school. The Akuma was already inside, after all. The fight would be over soon enough for class to resume, but she didn’t feel like sticking around much. If the teachers complained, she’d tell her dad that she’d left because of the Akuma.  

                She made her way down the halls, listening for signs that the battle was heading her way, and eventually got outside. She made it down the stairs before Chat Noir was flung out a window, landing two feet to her left.

                “Oh come on,” she muttered.

                She heard something that sounded like ‘beware!’ before everything went dark.              Well, it wasn’t completely dark. There was a purple glow that allowed her to see where she was.

                It was a box. Sure, it was made of evil magic and purple glowing, but it was a box all the same. It was small. She could probably lay down and have her head and feet brush the walls, and the ceiling was barely brushing her ponytail.

                The only good part was that Chat Noir was in the box with her. He got up, letting out a few swears as he hit his head on the ceiling.

                “So, are you going to use your Cataclysm and get us out or what?” Chloé asked.

                “Uh, maybe?” he answered.

                “What do you mean ‘maybe’?” she demanded.

                He gave the wall a good kick. Even with superhero strength, there was nothing more than a resounding thud.

                “I know your power can destroy anything,” she sighed. “Just get us out of here already!”

                “I already used Cataclysm on these once,” he said. “They Regenerate themselves, so we’d only have a second to jump out. Last time, I had Ladybug’s luck, so my bad luck won’t make it.”

                “So you’re not even going to try?” she asked.

                “If it doesn’t work,” he explained, “I run out of power, and you get to know who I am.”

                “If that happens, I’ll turn around,” she replied. “I won’t look at you or anything. And as soon as Ladybug fixes everything, you can run out as fast as you can so no one sees you.”

                He shuffled uneasily, his eyes darting to the side. He like he was that little eight year old caught snagging an entire plate of Christmas cookies for her tea party. Trying to find a way out.

                What was wrong with him? Was the idea of possibly learning who he was so bad that he’d rather stay here in awkward silence, even though Ladybug might lose the fight without him? Did he really not trust her enough to-

                ‘Oh stars,” Chloé muttered. Her legs gave out, letting her slide down the wall. “Y-you don’t trust me. Why would you? I’m just the girl who terrorizes her classmates into monsters. Why would you trust the girl who is so ruthless to get what she wants, that she locks another girl in a bathroom over a freaking class picture! You probably think I’d blackmail you over your identity too!”

                “Chloé, I’m not-“ Chat tried to explain, putting his hand on her arm.

                “Save it Adrien!” she shouted. “I know what I’ve done! I know what I am. Stars, I probably am just as bad as Hawkmoth. I’m mean, I’m terrible. I’m a spoiled selfish brat who should’ve died because of so many akumas. Even the ones I wasn’t directly responsible for, I still helped along just by generally being a total ass. It probably would’ve been better if Marinette’s uncle turned me into soup.  Hell, I’m surprised no one’s actually murdered me yet, or at least pushed me down the stairs!

“And, oh stars, you hate me too. I thought as long as I kept you with me, it would be fine, but of course you’d want to be with everyone else and make friends after being freaking Rapunzel for sixteen years. Not that you’d want to stay around me anyway! Who would? I would have been fine with everyone hating me, I never had them with me in the first place, but I just-I don’t want to lose you too!”

                He was quiet. The hand on her arm stiffened. She looked up, wiping tears out of her eyes. Chat Noir’s  eyes were wide. He looked like he stopped breathing.

                “Y-you know?” Chat asked. She bit back a swear.

                “Nothing!” She said, mentally kicking herself. “I don’t know anything! I have no Idea what you’re talking about!”

                “You’re not good at lying,” he sighed.

                “You know as well as I do that I can lie if I had more than three seconds to prepare!” she said. “Why am I defending that?”

                She dropped her head back into her hands. Chat sat down across from her.

                “How long have you known I was Chat Noir?” he asked.

                “Pretty much the entire time,” she answered.

                “Seriously?!” he exclaimed.

                “Adrien, we’ve known each other since before we can remember,” she rolled her eyes. “You think that just because I can’t see your cheekbones I can’t tell who you are?”

                “That makes too much sense actually,” he said. “Thanks for not, you know, telling anyone.”

                “I couldn’t do that to you,” she said. “Besides, now that you know I know, I can tease you about the various gossip I hear about ‘Chat Noir’. Like, did you know that some people think you’re not actually a superhero, just a really enthusiastic furry!”

                “Oh stars no,” he groaned, face turning red.

                “Everyone agrees that you and Ladybug are both hot,” she chuckled. “However, everyone also agrees you have the better butt.”

                “Does ‘everyone’ include you?” he asked.

                “Yes, actually,” she stuck her tongue out at him. “I’m gay, not blind.”

                He stopped and stared at her. His head was tilted and the cat ears on his head were lopsided.

                “What?” she asked.

                “You don’t usually call yourself gay,” he said.

                “Yeah, well you only call yourself Bisexual if you know a pun for it,” she retorted.

                “I am a bit Bi-ased toward puns!” he chuckled.

                “How long have you been waiting to use that one?” she groaned.

                “A while,” he said. “In all seriousness though, you’ve never exactly been ‘comfortable’ with it.”

                “Yeah, well, things happen,” she said.

                “You told Marinette you liked her, didn’t you?” he asked.

                Chloé jumped and tried to sputter out excuses.

                “Chloé,” Chat Noir said. “If you can figure out I’m a superhero, I can figure out you have a crush on someone. Even if you try to hide it by being mean to her.”

                “Fine,” she sighed, “I told her.”

                “Why?” he asked.

                “I can’t tell you,” she said. “If it was about me, I would, but it’s Marinette’s secret to tell.”

                “But you talked to her,” he said. “And at the very least, she convinced you to try and be nicer.”

                “I did a great job of that,” she sighed. “Marinette’s disappointed in me. I might’ve made it worse with some of the class. I mean, Alix seemed to be okay, but Alya got mad. And that’s not even factoring in if they want to forgive me. How do you do it?”

                “Do what?” he asked.

                “Just-just be nice,” she said. “Trust them. Even though they could be using you or could turn against you because of one thing? Even though I’ve told you about friends who ‘liked me’ only because I had the coolest stuff and could buy the best gift. Even though you could do one thing wrong, and they write you off as terrible. Even-even though they could leave you without an explanation.”

                “Chloé, you can’t just assume the worst of them,” he said.

                “They assume the worst of me,” she said. “It’s not like I’ve done much to prove them wrong. But how can you just jump in and trust them? Care about them wholeheartedly? I can’t even bring myself to talk to Sabrina about things that really matter to me. How can you trust people you’ve just met?”

                “Honestly? I didn’t,” he said.

                She looked up at him, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

                “Nice but not naive,” Chat explained. “They were friendly, but I wasn’t going to throw myself into it completely. But then, well, things happened. Nino risked yelling at my father and getting Akumatized over my birthday party. Alya always asks about my day. Rose and Mylène are too sweet, and Kim and Max are too bluntly honest. And Mari, she was somehow the easiest to trust and the hardest to trust.”

                “Really?” Chloé asked.

                “Yeah,” he chuckled. “You remember my first day, how she yelled at me because she thought I was in on your gum prank? If I was the type of person she thought I was, she would’ve been so screwed. She’s a designer! As far as she knew, I could have had Father blacklist her over that. And since we’ve been friends, she’s never said a thing about Father’s work. Even when he was judging that hat contest, she didn’t even ask for my input.”

                “They’re nice people,” she said. “Just not to me.”

                “I think they try,” he said. “It’s just, you assume the worst of them to be safe, and they assume the worst of you to be safe. But all of you have been reaching out.”

                She scoffed at the idea. She didn’t reach out until finding out Marinette was Ladybug. And no one had come up and said ‘hey, let’s be friends’ besides Sabrina. And even then, she’s been holding Sabrina at an arms’ length.

                “I’m serious!” Chat said. “Look, who invited you to see Alix and Kim race?”

                “What?’ Chloé asked.

                “That was outside class,” he said. “Someone had to tell you about it.”

                “Alix did,” she answered.

                “And who invited you to see Max’s video game contest?” he asked.

                “Max did,” she said.

                “Who asked you to be part of Nino’s horror movie?”

                “Alya.”

                “Who tried asking you to deliver that letter to Prince Ali?”

                “Rose.”

                “Who asked you out for Valentine’s Day?”

                “Kim.”

                “And who held you hostage at my birthday party?” he asked, cracking a smile.

                “That doesn’t count!” she exclaimed.

                Despite the protest, she snorted with laughter remembering that. She gave a playful shove, and he toppled back before breaking out in his own fit of giggles.

                “My point was,” Chat said, trying to squash the last of his laughter. “They reached out. Well, technically Kim ‘confessed his undying love’ for you, which definitely means he doesn’t think you’re past saving. And you might deny it, but other than Rose’s letter and Kim’s confession, you reached back. You showed up to those things and tried to interact.”

                “Technically, I was kidnapped into your birthday party,” she corrected.

                “You and I both know you could have complained a lot more,” he said.

                “Fair enough,” she agreed. “Other than the whole ‘kidnapped and held hostage while all adults were sent into the stratosphere’ part, it was a good idea. Maybe I can talk to Nino about your next birthday. I’m sure Marinette would love to help too, and they’ll probably drag the rest of the class into it. Your father can’t disapprove if he doesn’t know about it!”

                “So you’re still going to try and be nice to them?” he asked.

                She stopped smiling again. She curled up more, bringing her knees closer to her chest.

                “I wasn’t lying when I said I have nothing to lose,” she said. “They already don’t like me.”

                “My suggestion? Don’t do it because you ‘have nothing to lose’,” he said. “Do it because of how great it’ll be once you have a large group of people who genuinely like you. You love having me and Sabrina. Imagine having that with everyone. And despite your past.. er… transgressions, you do deserve to have friends.

                “I know you’re scared,” he went on. “I know why you’re scared. No, I don’t get totally get why, but this past year has put some perspective on it. You don’t want to lose what you have, and if you have more people to care about, it’s more people to lose. But imagine having friends, real friendships like what we have. Yes, there’s always going to be a risk that something will happen and they’ll leave you for whatever reason, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. I get that you don’t want to jump straight in, and you don’t have to give all of your heart 100% just yet, but you should still try.”

                “Do you think they’ll even forgive me?” she asked. “I’ve kinda been terrible for years.”

                “It’ll take a while,” he said. “But you’ve got me on your side. And Marinette seems to be on board too. And, well, okay, you know I’m Chat Noir so there’s no use in hiding Plagg from you.”

                “Plagg?” she asked.

                “Remember how most magical girls have little magic companions to give them their power?” he asked. “Plagg’s like that for me.”

                “Really?’ she said, the déjà vu really hitting her as she tried to act surprised.

                “Yeah,” he answered. “Although, most magical girl companions don’t eat smelly cheese.”

                 “Of course you’d compare it to magical girls,” she said, ignoring that she had done the same yesterday. “Does that make you the Tuxedo Mask to Ladybug’s Sailor Moon?”

                “Actually,” he thought about it, “since I have the ‘magic companion’ as well, I think that makes me Sailor Venus. But if we do get more heroes, they’ll have their own magic companions, so it’s a bit more like Shugo Chara. Although, since we’re all kind of using the same magic, it’s kind of like Cardcaptor Sakura: Master of the Clow because-“

                “I think you make a great Sailor Venus,” she said, cutting off his rant. “And, I am sorry. For everything. Trying to keep you to myself, insulting your friends, letting you take the fall for the whole gum incident. And for being so clingy when it comes to the whole cover thing.”

                “You’re supposed to be helplessly in love with me,” he said. “I think you play it pretty well.”

                “I go a bit far sometimes,” she said. “I know you had to be uncomfortable a lot of the time.”

                “You do sometimes cross a line,” he said. “Like the whole kiss for Nino’s video thing. Even if it’s pretend, it’s weird to kiss someone who’s practically my sister.”

                “Honestly, I’m surprised people buy the ‘fake liking you’ thing,” she said. “Still, I’m sorry for doing all that. And everything else too.  That said, now that we’ve had a little talk, think you can risk getting us out of here?”

                “What? Oh! Sure!” he said.

                They stood up and prepared to leap out of the box as soon as Cataclysm hit. Chat’s ears stood, up straight, but the rest of him relaxed.

                “Actually, I don’t have to,” he said.

                The box melted away in red and pink sparkles. Chloé shielded her eyes from the sudden brightness. Obviously, Ladybug had beaten the Akuma.

                “How’d you know?” Chloé asked as soon as her eyes adjusted.

                “Super hearing!” Chat answered. “I could hear the fight still going on. That’s why I wasn’t worried about Ladybug getting zapped into a box. If she was, I would hear her and get us out, but you needed me a bit more at the time.”

                “I think all of Paris is a bit more important than me,” she said, “but thanks.”

                “I knew Ladybug could handle it,” he said. “She’s amazing like that.”

“So, your thing for Ladybug isn’t just being flirty?” she asked.

                “I wouldn’t flirt if I didn’t mean it,” he sighed. “I feel bad that I can’t put a real name to her, but whoever she really is, I love her.”

                “So, what are you going to do about your crush on Marinette?” she asked, smirking at him.

                “My what now?” he asked, red already creeping into his face.

                “Your crush on Marinette,” she said. “You’ve called her cute before, and we all heard how ‘Chat Noir’ flirted with her during Evilustrator. Weren’t you the one who just said ‘I wouldn’t flirt if I didn’t mean it’? Then you were a mess trying to have her autograph that Jagged Stone album. And if you think I forgot how much you were on board with kissing her during Nino’s video-“

                “Oh!! Look at the time!” he said, looking at his watchless wrist. “I have to meet Ladybug to let her know I didn’t die in a box somewhere.  See you in class! And try to make friends!”

                “You sound like a my little pony episode!” she shouted as he ran off.

                She debated over going back inside. Adrien and Marinette expected her to, but a part of her didn’t want to face the class again.

                With a sigh, she walked back inside. She was the last to get to class. Even Marinette had gotten there before her. Thankfully, no teacher had shown up yet, probably having been dragged into another staff meeting over ‘how do we protect the kids against Akuma?’. She walked to the front of the class and got their attention.

                “Okay, I’d like to try again,” Chloé said. “I know I probably already screwed it up, but please let me have this.”

                She paused, waiting for someone to object. No one said anything, but both Adrien and Marinette gave encouraging smiles. She even saw Tikki poking out of Marinette’s purse, nodding for her to go on.

                “I get it,” Chloé said. “I’ve been really terrible to all of you, and I’m sorry for that. While I have my reasons why I did that, they’re personal issues that don’t excuse what I did. I didn’t have to be mean, I could’ve just ignored you all. And it took a lot to make me see that, including a good conversation with a few friends, almost losing my best friend because of how I’ve been, and seeing what he has with you guys in his life.”

                She felt something touching her fingertips. Adrien had leaned over his desk to grab her hand. He gave a light squeeze before allowing her to continue.

                “But I don’t want to be mean to you guys anymore,” she said. “I-I’m sorry for how I’ve been, what I’ve been. And I don’t want to just ignore you either. I’d like to try and, well, at least get on good terms. I’m not expecting us to just, just magically be bffs and stuff. But I’m going to try. And I might try ‘wrong’, like offering to buy things instead of actually apologizing. 

                “I guess I was kind of trying to buy your forgiveness with that,” she went on, “but gifts can still be a good apology, so if I bring in a group apology pastry basket tomorrow, well, I’m trying. And I know I’ll probably screw up a bit too. I’ve been doing the same thing for a while, so I might say something without thinking. Just, please be patient with me, even though I know I don’t deserve it. I want to try and fix this, if it’s not already too late. ”

                Chloé went and sat back in her seat. Sabrina had already begun working on her classwork. She looked over at Adrien and Marinette. Both of them were nodding in improvement. She couldn’t see Tikki anymore, but a small black thing was poking its head out of Adrien’s shirt. It winked at her before disappearing.

                She jumped feeling a hand on her right shoulder. Looking back, she saw Alix grinning at her.

                “Hey, you got me on board!” Alix said.

                “You are trying” Alya spoke up, “I’ll give you a chance.”

                Pretty much everyone spoke up. Of course there were varying degrees of enthusiasm, but they agreed to help. They’d also try to keep her on track.

                It was a lot more than Chloé expected. A lot more than she deserved. Still, she couldn’t help but smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, if Chloé hadn't interrupted Chat's Magical Girl rant, he would've continued to say 'because in that series, they're fighting a guy who uses the same magic as the hero. Except my dad isn't secretly Hawk Moth." ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
> 
> That said, next chapter is... an event.


	5. Chapter 5

                It had been little more than a week. Chloé seemed to be doing fairly good. Okay, she was slipping up. A lot. But her mean comments were usually followed by a swear and an apology.

                She was trying to interact more as well. When teachers had them pair up, she tried to do something other than snagging Sabrina or Adrien. First she went with Marinette, then Nathaniel. Alix asked her the next time.

                It was easier to talk to them than she thought. She’d been paying so much attention to them under the context of ‘what can I use against them’, that she actually got to know them fairly well. Starting up a conversation about something they liked was simple, really. Although, they kept giving her surprised looks every time she brought up something they didn’t think she knew.

                Still, even with some awkwardness, okay a lot of awkwardness, it was nice. While she was still upset at herself at the end of the day, she was in a better mood. There weren’t any arguments. She didn’t feel annoyed by time she got home. Chloé hadn’t even noticed until her dad brought it up, asking if something nice had happened.

                She had wanted to do something over the weekend, but she had to go to some social functions with her dad on ‘Mayor Business’. It wasn’t a total loss. Alix was at one with her dad and her brother, since it had something to do with the Louvre. They didn’t get to talk too long before their respective parents dragged them away to talk to other important people, but it was nice to have someone during those boring events.

                Chloé wanted to try more, since this weekend was free. After school ended on Thursday, she went to talk to Marinette again. She knew that Marinette knew everyone’s schedules so she could plan group things like Alix and Kim’s next contest. She’d even got up the courage to ask for Adrien’s schedule to make sure he could come too.

                “Hello, Marinette,” she said.

                “Hey Chloé!” Marinette greeted back.

                “So, I was wondering what everyone was doing this weekend,” she said. “I mean, I don’t want to invite myself to things, but if someone doesn’t have anything planned, maybe I could invite them to something. Just to make some progress without, you know, having to stop and talk about math.”

                “Off the top of my head,” she answered, “Kim and Max mentioned a weekend-long gaming tournament, so they’re out. Rose and Juleka were doing something saturday, I think a beach trip, and Nathaniel’s planning to spend the weekend practically camping at an art museum. Alya, Nino, Adrien and I are hanging out Saturday afternoon, but other than Adrien’s morning photoshoot, we’re all free. I have some sowing to catch up on Sunday though. I’m not sure if anyone else has any specific plans, I can ask around or look over the schedule when I get home.”

                “Thanks!” she said.

                “If I could suggest though,” she added, “try talking to Sabrina again. I know you haven’t stopped talking to her, but she doesn’t really have anyone else. She’s probably a bit lonely since she doesn’t have you around all the time.”

                “I know I haven’t been a good friend to her at all, really,” she sighed. “I should talk to her about all this and try and make up for lost time.”

                “Good luck!” she said.

                Chloé wandered off, looking for Sabrina. She’d passed by most of their classmates before seeing a flash of orange hair heading through the library doors.

                She followed, trying not to bump into anyone. Thankfully Sabrina had gone to a table instead of getting lost in the shelves. Chloé slid into the seat across from her.

                “Hey,” Chloé greeted. “What are you doing this weekend?”

                “Usually I’d be with you,” Sabrina replied, not looking up. “Considering you’re doing other things, I’m probably going to stay home.”

                “But I wanted to spend time with you,” she said.

                Sabrina looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. Chloé tilted her head in confusion.

                “You’ve been avoiding me for a week and a half,” Sabrina said.

                “I’ve been trying to make more friends,” Chloé explained. “It’s a long story, and I can’t tell you all of it but-“

                “But you could tell Adrien?” she asked.

                “What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded.

                “Just how apparently I’m not your best friend anymore,” she retorted. “After I was Akumatized, you promised you’d never ignore me again!”

                “I haven’t!” she insisted.

                “Then why did you lie to me about ‘having a headache’ when you were off talking to Marinette?” she demanded. “Why have you been talking to literally everyone else? Why did you call Adrien your best friend?”

                “I can’t tell you about Marinette,” she said. “But I’ve been talking to everyone else because I want to be friends with them now. And I called Adrien my best friend because he’s the one who knows everything about me!”

                “Considering how awkward he looks around you, I doubt he paid attention,” she scoffed. “I’ve heard a few people say he hates you, but he’s too nice to tell you to leave.”

                “Clearly, no one saying that knows him,” she sighed. “But fine. You want to prove that you know me better than Adrien? Answer three questions.”

                “What?” she asked. “W-why would you even-“

                “You want to prove how much you know me,” she stated. “That’s the only way.

                Sabrina glanced away for a moment. Chloé had expected it. Anger made her more confident, but someone else’s confidence still crushed hers. She felt bad for thinking that, especially since the whole point here was to be a better friend, but she’d brought it up.

                “Ask your questions,” Sabrina said.

                That was surprising. Chloé was sure she’d have given in. Seems that living in a city where people become supervillians can boost your confidence. As could becoming a supervillain yourself, depending on the situation.

                “Alright,” Chloé agreed. “Who is my most recent crush?”

                “Adrien, of course,” Sabrina managed to keep from rolling her eyes. “Unless something’s changed this past week that you kept from me.”

                “I won’t use this past two weeks against you,” she agreed. “Next question, -“

                “Wait, aren’t you going to tell me the answer?” she asked.

                “At the end,” she shrugged, wondering if this was ‘bad’ too. “Who is my favorite Sailor Moon character?”

                “When have you watched Sailor Moon?” she asked.

                “While it defeats the purpose of these questions,” she answered, “Adrien had me watch a few seasons. Haven’t seen it in a while, but it’s been brought up a few times this past week and a half so it’s on the mind.”

                “Probably Tuxedo Mask then,” she said. “He’s all the perks of a good-looking superhero, without the real-life superhero’s pun spree.”

                “Last one,” she said, avoiding the need to shout and accidently reveal quite a few secrets. “What album do I listen to when upset?”

                “XY’s ‘Number One’!” she said. “You can’t be upset listening to his songs.”

                Chloé was torn. On one hand, she could lie. Tell Sabrina ‘yep! You’re right! Let’s go back to normal except better!’. On the other hand, that wouldn’t fix anything. On somehow another hand, she hated that she found pleasure in being right. Telling someone this shouldn’t make you feel good.

                “Zero for three,” Chloé answered.

                “That’s not possible!” Sabrina said. “I know you! What are the real answers?”

                “First, my crush,” she said, holding up a finger to emphasize. “Not Adrien. It’s never been Adrien.”

                Then why-“ she began.

                “Protection,” It wasn’t a complete lie, just a half-truth. “If I’m known for being ‘totally in love’ with him, less people try to ask me out.”

                “And the Sailor Moon question?” she asked.

                “Just because I don’t go on and on about it doesn’t mean I never liked it,” she shrugged. “It’s a tie between Usagi and Chibiusa.”

                “And what about XY?” she demanded. “You love XY!”

                “His songs are catchy and fun to sing and dance to,” she said. “But not what I want when I’m upset. I don’t want someone to come in and be all ‘hey! Stop being upset!’, I want something comforting, which is what Katie Hokulani’s ‘Light, Magic, and Love’ is good for.”

                “You’re lying!” She shouted.

                That got them a look from the librarian. Chloé gave him a small smile and wave, a simple ‘I get the message’. Still, he looked mildly upset.

                “I’m sorry,” Chloé said, making sure to whisper. “It’s not your fault.”

                “How is it not my fault?” Sabrina demanded. “How can I just miss all that?”

                “Because I kept it from you,” she answered. “I used you as company, basically. I didn’t want to get close to anyone, so I actively pushed them away. You were so insistent on being my friend, so I let you. But I’ve never let you get close. I’ve been terrible. And I know that. I’d like to start over, and actually be your friend this time.”

                “Are you serious?” she snapped. “You just said that our entire friendship was a lie? Why would I want to just forgive that?”

                “I don’t expect you to,” she answered, sinking into her chair. “But it wasn’t a total lie. I do care about you.”

                “If you did you would have treated me like a friend!” she shouted. “Friends tell each other things! Marinette might’ve been a bad friend too, but she was right about how you feel about me!”

                “I do care about you!” she shouted back. “If I didn’t I wouldn’t be telling you this! And if you didn’t explode at her for deciding that being stalked by an Akuma was more important that a school project, you would’ve had a great friend!”

                “Yeah, a friend that talks you into abandoning me!” she screamed “At least if it was a lie, it was blissful ignorance!”

                “At least Marinette and Adrien never got mad at me for trying to fix a mistake!” she said.

                “Is that what our friendship was? A mistake?” she demaned.

                “I’m the mistake!” she roared. “Everything about me is a mistake! My attitude and choices and stars knows what else! Having actual friends is the best thing that’s happened to me, and I wanted us to have that too!”

                “Ladies!” the librarian interrupted. “This is a library, now either take this outside, or to the principal’s office!”

                Chloé shook, not bothering to even glance at him. She kept her eyes on Sabrina. She felt tears start up the longer she stared. Sabrina’s face might’ve softened a fraction, but she didn’t stay long enough t find out.

                “Fine, I’m leaving!” Chloé snapped at the librarian.

                She ran out. She didn’t stop. Running was pointless, but she kept it up. If she stopped, it wouldn’t all catch up to her.

                She didn’t care about pushing anyone out of the way. Not that it mattered, since everyone was either in a classroom, in the library, or home. She didn’t notice the weight of opening the door.

                However, she did notice when there was no longer anything under her feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some people might hate me for how I handled this chapter, but trust me, this was the better of two options. Earlier drafts were her being unjustifiably upset because of her codependency issues. While those issues are still a part, I wanted to make it clearer that this is Chloé's fault, and have Sabrina mostly justified in this. I also realized that the reason I liked the original drafts was because I didn't want to write Sabrina in so it was a bad way to get her out of the story, so I fixed that as well.


	6. Chapter 6

                Falling down stairs didn’t feel as bad as she thought it would. Or maybe she just couldn’t register the pain.

                Chloé could feel plenty of pain. Her wrist and ankle throbbed, and she could feel a handful of bruises everywhere. But for some reason, the back of her arm felt like it was burning.

                She tried to get up, but as soon as she put weight on her arm it crumpled under her. She bit her lip to keep from screaming.

                “Holy hell! Are you okay?”

                She recognized Alix’s voice, but didn’t bother thinking about where it came from.

                “Hey, I’m going to help you sit up, okay?” Alix said.

                She felt a hand on her left arm, lifting gently as she could. She yelped in pain as her leg moved, but allowed Alix to at least help her sit up.

                “Don’t you know better than to fall down stairs?” Alix asked.

                “I was trying to leave a glass slipper but the clock struck midnight,” Chloé said, rolling her eyes.

                “I don’t know about glass slippers,” she chuckled, “but you did lose a shoe half-way down.”

                Chloé looked to see that she was, in fact, missing her left shoe. She tried to move that foot, only to be met with more pain.

                “Okay, this might hurt a bit,” Alix said.

                Alix took her hurt ankle and felt it gently. Gentle as it was, it still hurt. She did the same with the other one and both wrists. She frowned.

                “I’m pretty sure your right wrist and left ankle are sprained,” Alix said. “I’m not a doctor though, so I suggest you see one.”

                “Better than broken,” Chloé said.

                “Actually, broken might be better,” she said. “If it’s broken, then once the bone’s set and cast it won’t hurt as much. But a sprain is a muscle injury, and the most you can do is wrap it up and don’t move.”

                “Thank you for making me wish I broke my leg instead,” she said, bringing her good hand up to her face.

                “You’re welcome,” she said, sticking her tongue out. She glanced down and widened her eyes. “Okay, this next thing is going to definitely hurt.”

                Before Chloé could ask what she meant, Alix reached over. She felt pain, but was more confused as Alix held up a chunk of something. It looked like a hunk of rock, but with a sharp tip, now covered in blood.  Looking at her arm, she could see that the rock had sliced through her jacket and down her arm, a fair amount of blood leaking out of the cut. She looked around for where the rock could have come from, only to find plenty more shards of something scattered around.

                “Was someone else here?” Chloé asked, a little afraid of the answer.

                “Yeah,” Alix answered. “One of Nathaniel’s friends, Valerie I think? Another art student. She had a statue, which is kind of now all around us. She ran off before I could check on her, but I guess that means she’s okay.

                Great. Chloé could already guess that she’d be responsible for another Akuma now. And she’d been trying so hard.

                “What are you even still doing here?” Chloé asked. “I figured you’d be home, or out skating.”

                “My brother was supposed to pick me up,” Alix rolled her eyes. “But knowing Jalil, he probably got caught up at the museum and won’t remember me for another hour. In the meantime, we should get you to a hospital in case those sprains are worse than I think. And have them check out your arm. Do you have your phone?”

                Chloé looked around for her purse. When she finally found it, she just sighed and pointed. Alix followed her gaze to see the purse lying in the middle of the street, and dirty from a few tire tracks.

                “Damn,” Alix said. “My phone’s still out of commission from the last time I dropped it from a tree. Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. First, put these on.”

                Alix reached into her backpack and pulled out two items. The first was a wrist brace, and the second was an ankle brace. Bother were black and pink.

                “Why do you have those?” Chloé asked, raising her wrist to let her put the brace on.

                “I might not be ‘clumsy’,” Alix replied, actually using the air quotes, “but if you skate and climb trees and stuff as much as I do, you’re bound to wipe out eventually. I haven’t wiped out too bad, but better safe than sorry.”

                “Anyway,” she continued, moving to put the brace on Chloé’s ankle. “We need to get you somewhere safe-ish, and we need to get someone who can take you to a hospital or something. Mari’s place is closest, and I know they have a van for deliveries. Walking’s going to be difficult and slow, but just lean on me and you’ll make it.”

                Alix helped her up, which was difficult with only one usable arm and leg. Alix put Chloé’s good arm over her shoulders, and grabbed her waist for support. Once she was sure they were stable, they began moving forward.

                “So, why were you running like that anyway?” Alix asked. 0

                “Stars, I almost forgot about that,” Chloé groaned, kind of wishing to fall down another set of stairs. “Sabrina and I had a fight. A bad one.”

                “Bad enough for stairs?” she asked.

                “Yeah,” she sighed. “I told her that I was a terrible person who doesn’t let people get close to me, and that even though she considers me her best friend, I’ve never really opened up to her. So she found out how little she actually knew about me, and took it hard. Like, ‘I can’t believe everything was a lie how can I trust you’ hard.”

                “Damn,” she said. “Did you tell her why you were distancing yourself?”

                “Didn’t get the chance,” she said. “To be fair, I didn’t even realize why until Adrien pointed it out, and I’ve been thinking about it non-stop since. I mean, I knew I was doing it, but not why. I’d never stopped to think about it. Not that it justifies anything.”

                “Probably not,” she agreed. “Your actions were your own, and you’re totally held accountable for that, but sometimes it helps to actually reason it out. You know, ‘cool motive, still murder’ and all that.”

                “You’re going to think I’m dumb,” she sighed. “My mom just up and left when I was eight, for no reason. Haven’t seen her since.”

                “Seriously?” she asked. “That’s cold. I knew your dad was divorced, but I thought you at least saw your mom. Jalil and I see our mom every couple weeks.”

                “Sorry,” she said. “After she left, well, part of me blamed myself. Because I knew other kids’ parents didn’t just leave. To a kid, it made sense that I had to be bad for her to leave me. Then I just decided that I’d hold onto who I already had, and avoid more heartbreak pushed away anyone else. Then it turned into being mean to keep them away, especially after I started being mean to Marinette in particular.

                “And you know what didn’t help?” she went on. “Dad feeling guilty. Sure, he always bought me things and helped me out of trouble before, after all we had the money and ‘what’s the point of power if you don’t use it? After all, everything’s political!’, but he used to put limits on that stuff. I don’t think he’s said ‘no’ to me in years!”

                “No wonder you were a spoiled brat,” she chuckled.

                “Thank you captain obvious,” she rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help but smile. “Still, it doesn’t make up for the stuff I did. I can’t just blame it all on mom and dad.”

                “You’re being oddly open about this,” she said.

                Chloé stopped to raise an eyebrow at that comment. Alix just looked up at her with a grin.

                “I’m emotionally exhausted and in a lot of pain,” Chloé said. “If I hadn’t already been Anti-Bug I probably would be a great Akuma right now. I’d be surprised if I don’t spill every secret I know.”

                “I’ll try not to ask anything too personal then,” Alix said.

                The grin on her face looked like she was about to do just that. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, she never got the chance.

                “HOW DARE YOU!” came a voice from above.

                The two of them looked up to see a girl floating toward them. Her skin was purple, eyes red, and hair green. She wore a white dress with only one shoulder, gold sandals with straps up her legs, and a gold band around her bicep. As the girl came closer, her hair seemed to move, as if it were alive.

                “Akuma?” Chloé guessed.

                “Yep,” Alix confirmed.

                “Statue girl from the stairs?”

                “Most likely.”

                “Hawkmoth really needs to get his design inspiration back because this is kinda lazy.”

                “At least it matches the theme. Do you remember Nino’s costume?”

                “Don’t remind me. “

                “At least we got to look cool!”

“It’s probably a bad idea to insult him and the Akuma to their face though.”

                “Bring it on!”

                Alix stepped in front of her. As much as she could while still supporting most of Chloé’s weight. The Akuma, who Chloé guessed was called ‘Medusa’ from her theme, snarled at them. Her eyes glowed, and Chloé closed her own, guessing what would happen next.

                Surprisingly, she wasn’t a statue. Daring to check, she opened her eyes. There was someone in front of them, blocking Medusa’s Gaze with a green shield. Unless Medusa could make fake heroes, there was a new member to Ladybug and Chat Noir’s team.

                She could tell it was a guy, about their age. His costume was skin-tight like Ladybug and Chat’s, but a few shades of green. She guessed he probably had a matching mask as well. Unlike them, his costume included a hood over his head.

                “Run!” he commanded.

                “I kinda can’t right now,” Chloé responded.

                The hero looked back at her, swearing when he saw the braces and bleeding arm.

                “What happened to you?” he asked.

                “Fell down stairs into her,” Alix answered, casually pointing to the Akuma, who had not given up her Gaze.

                “Stay here until Ladybug or Chat show up!” he said.

                Somehow, he expanded the shield to cover them, but still was able to maneuver around as Medusa tried to get past. Chloé studied him. His voice was familiar, and she was sure she’d seen him before. As he looked to her again, she saw his eyes. Incredible gold eyes. And all too familiar.

                She felt someone drop to the side Alix wasn’t on.

                “I’ve got her, cover us!” the new voice said.

                It was female, so not Chat, and it wasn’t Ladybug’s either. But it was familiar. Before she could turn to see who it was, Chloé felt herself being picked up.

                It hurt a bit, but it was better than being a statue. She looked at the girl carrying her. Yep, totally not Ladybug. She had a lot of hair, red with white tips. Her costume had ears like Chat Noir’s, but a bit taller and in orange and black. An orange mask matched the orange black and white suit. Her face, like the other superhero’s was all too familiar.

                “What the hell, Alya?” Chloé asked.

                The superhero tripped in surprise. Luckily they didn’t crash, but it did jolt her wrist.

                “How’d you even-“ she started to ask. “I’ve been a superhero for ten minutes and I already failed the secret identity part. Ladybug’s gonna kill me!”

                “I’m sure she won’t,” Chloé tried not to tell her exactly why. “So who’s recording the Ladyblog?”

                “I asked Nino to do it,” she said.

                “So judging by the fox theme, you’re the real Volpina?” she asked, trying not to think about how Nino probably wasn’t recording.

                “Yeah, technically,” she answered. “I might use a different name. It’ll keep the blog posts organized better.”

                “Of course,” she rolled her eyes.

                “What do you think about ‘Vixen’?” she asked.

                Chloé laughed in surprise. She looked up at her, raising an eyebrow and giving a half-smile.

                “Really?” Chloé asked. “Vixen?”

                “Yeah,” she answered. “Figured I could use my new Superhero Persona to flirt with my own boyfriend, he’s so cute when flustered, and a name like ‘Vixen’ fits the theme and is a good pickup line!”

                “Almost sounds like Chat Noir’s lines,” she laughed.

                “And you ruined it,” she sighed.

                “Sorry,” she said. “I’m sure it’d work.”

                Vixen stopped running. She let Alix catch up to them before putting Chloé down. Chloé leaned against the wall, looking around to see where she was. They were in front of the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

                “I’ve got to get back into the fight,” Vixen said. “We’ll try to lead her away from you guys.”

                “Thanks,” Chloé said.

                Vixen smiled, then ran back the other way. Alix leaned on the wall with her.

                “Are you okay?” Alix asked.

                “As okay as I can be,” Chloé sighed.

                “On the bright side, it looks like we got two new superheroes!” she said. “They’ll probably kick Hawkmoth’s ass by the end of the week!”

                “Don’t think it’ll be that quick,” she chuckled.

                “Well, it’ll still speed it up,” she said. “Honestly, I kinda hope they let everyone who’s been Akumatized punch him in the face.”

                “If only, if only,” she said. “Honestly, the guy could be worse. He could have made us say how great he is while controlling us.”

                “Eh, he only had so much control,” she laughed. “If he had told me to talk him up, I would’ve gone with backhanded compliments!”

                “I heard Hawkmoth has an eight-pack,” she said, gaining a snort from Alix. “That Hawkmoth is shredded!”

                “Hawkmoth is a punk-ass bitch!” she replied.

                The two of them were nearly doubled over with laugher. Chloé made sure to keep her good hand on the wall.

                “Wait! I got another!” Alix gasped. “I’m going into the bakery, do you want anything?”

                “Bring me the Miraculous!” Chloé tried her best to impersonate Hawkmoth’s voice while stifling laughter.

                “Yeah, I’ve got, like, twelve Euros,” she deadpanned.

                The two of them busted out laughing again. It took a few minutes for them to wind down. Then a few more to catch their breath.

                “You know what was the weirdest thing about being Akumatized?” Chloé asked.

                “What?” Alix asked.

                “Having Hawkmoth in your head,” she said. “It was weird. He sounded familiar. I thought it was just his magic. You know, makes you trust him so you’re easier to Akumatize or something, but I asked Sabrina about it, and she said she didn’t get the feeling.”

                “To be honest, I didn’t either,” she said. “Maybe he’s someone you know? That’d be weird.”

                “I don’t know anyone who wants to take over the world,” she said.

                “Maybe it’s some politician your dad talks to all the time,” she said. “So you’re heard him often enough, but don’t ‘know’ him, you know?”

                “Some of those guys definitely want to take over the world,” she rolled her eyes.

                “Hey, I bet I could keep up a handstand until the heroes beat the Akuma!” she exclaimed.

                Chloé tried to give her ‘the look’, but Alix already had her hands on the ground. In one swift motion she flipped her legs into the air. She wobbled for a moment, but looked up at her triumphantly.

                “Why?” Chloé asked.

                “Because I can!” Alix said, shrugging as much as one can in her position.

                “Looks like you don’t get to do it for long,” she said, looking to the sky.

                The pink and red sparkles were already flying around to fix the city. Alix dropped back, flipping into a sitting position to watch.

                “Technically, I did stay in a handstand until they beat her,” Alix defended.

                Chlloé smiled and rolled her eyes. Ladybug’s pink and red sparkles washed over her as well. She felt the pain in her arm and leg lessen before disappearing completely. She took the wrist brace of her arm, testing out moving it. No pain.

                “Well that’s convenient,” Chloé muttered.

                “Yeah, Ladybug’s powers are generous like that,” Alix said. “I was kind of expecting it. I mean, she did fix my watch back when I was an Akuma.”

                Chloé reached down and undid the ankle brace as well. She handed both to Alix. Alix handed them right back.

                “Keep them just in case,” Alix said. “I don’t think Ladybug’s powers would give out and un-fix you, but if you start hurting later, it’s good to have.”

                “Thanks,” Chloé said. “I guess I should go home.”

                “I think you should talk to Mari first,” she said. “Ladybug might’ve fixed your body, but you were still upset enough to run and fall down those stairs in the first place. I’d love to be comforting, but by now Jalil’s probably remembered I exist and is freaking out. Besides, Mari’s better at the whole comforting thing. She’s as sweet as Rose, but firm enough to help instead of just listen. Plus you probably need to call someone to pick you up.”

                “I think that’s for the best,” she sighed.

                “Since I have to go back to the school anyway, I’ll grab your shoe for you,” she added.

                Chloé looked down to see that they had indeed managed to leave her shoe on the steps.

                “Thanks, I like these shoes, and I can’t really get another pair,” Chloé said.

                “You can’t buy more shoes?” Alix wondered.

                “Well, I can,” she said. “But this pair was a birthday gift from Adrien’s parents. Well, his father designed them, but his mom was the one to actually buy me a pair.”

                “Oh,” she said. “I can see why you’d want to keep a gift from her.”

                “Yeah, well thanks for offering to get the shoe back,” she said.

                “No problem!” she said. “I’ll see if I can recover anything from your purse as well.”

                “That’s all replaceable,” she shrugged. “Well, the bag isn’t, since it’s a few year old Gabriel Agreste design, but I needed an upgrade anyway.

                “Anyway, see you tomorrow,” she said. “And next time, I can show you a longer version of the handstand trick!”

                Chloé smiled and waved as Alix ran off toward the school. She sighed, and turned to head into the bakery, only to jump at seeing Marinette standing behind her.

                “How are you so quiet?” Chloé demanded, trying to slow her heartrate.

                Marinette only shrugged.

                “Was that Alix?” Marinette asked.

                “Yeah,” Chloé smiled. “She was helping me because, well, it’s a long story.”

                “Well, come on in,” she said, walking toward the bakery entrance. “You can tell me about it upstairs.”

                “Thanks,” she said.

                Chloé cast one last look over her shoulder, hoping to see Alix’s pink hair once more, before following Marinette into the bakery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have the gift of a cameo from The Last Pilot's Jade Turtle!  
> And a visual for Medusa: http://cornerverse.tumblr.com/post/157825688214/i-had-to-draw-a-visual-for-the-akuma-in-chapter-6


	7. Chapter 7

                The Dupain-Cheng bakery was warm, as always. It smelled wonderful as well. Cookies and breads and all sorts of things were baking in the oven. It was thankfully empty, probably because no one really wanted to risk being hit by an Akuma for cookies. Although, the treats here were very worth it.

                Marinette’s mother had taken the opportunity to restock, walking back and forth between the kitchens and the front shelves, barely looking to the storefront. Still, she heard the bell chime and gave the usual greeting to whatever customers may come.

                “It’s just me,” Marinette called back to her.

                “Marinette?” her mother asked “I thought you were upstairs?”

                “Uh, I was!” she answered quickly. “I was out on the roof, actually! There was an Akuma attack, and Ladybug came by to get me out of the way. But I did run into a friend on the way back, so we’re just going to go back up to my room!”

                “Alright,” she said. “I’ll bring snacks up for you and Alya in a bit.”

                “It’s not Alya,” she said.

                Her mother paused, looking over at the two girls. Chloé gave an awkward wave. Madame Cheng gave Marinette a look that said one word: ‘what?’.

                “She’s trying to be a better person?” Marinette offered.

                “And I’m doing such a wonderful job,” Chloé muttered to herself.

                “It’s a work in progress,” she said.

                “Alright,” Madame Cheng agreed, giving her another look. The message was clear. ‘I’ll trust you, but if this is a trick, you don’t want to know the consequences.’

                “Er, before we go up,” Chloé began, swallowing the fear that look gave her. “I wanted to apologize. Because I know Marinette has probably complained about all the things I’ve done, and you’ve probably seen some of that too, like- Oh stars I just remembered the screaming match at Christmas. Again, sorry. Also, your pastries and stuff are really amazing. As in, even though I was fighting with Marinette I still made sure Dad and I ordered from here because it’s so good.

                “So, again,” she repeated, “Sorry for everything. And thanks for still letting me buy stuff here even though I was personally horrible to your daughter.”

                “Thank you, dear,” Madame Cheng said. “And I’ll still be bringing snacks up for you girls. Do you have a favorite?”

                “Everything here’s amazing,” she said, “But you had raspberry macaroons last time. Are you still selling them?”

                “Of course,” she said. “Once Tom’s back from his delivery, I’ll be right up with a couple!”

                Chloé sighed seeing the change in Madame Cheng’s mannerisms. She felt most of the tension leave the room. Marinette led her toward the door that led to the back. They had started up the stairs into the main house before Madame Cheng stopped them.

                “Chloé, are you alright?” she asked.

                “Yes?” Chloé answered.

                “What happened to your arm?” she asked.

                Chloé gave a confused look before jumping to shocked realization. She held out her arm, twisting it a bit too far in an attempt to look at the back of it. She could barely see the red still on her jacket.

                “I fell right before the Akuma attack,” Chloé explained. “I thought Ladybug’s powers had fixed that.”

                “It looks as if whatever cut had been there was healed,” Madame Cheng said. “But I don’t think Ladybug fixed the tear or the blood it left. I can see if I can get that cleaned before it stains.”

                “It’s alright, you have a shop to look after,” she said.

                “That’s alright,” she said.

                Chloé relented and shrugged out of the jacket. Handing it over, Madame Cheng took the chance to inspect it closer.

                “I might be able to fix this,” she said. “And I’m sure Marinette can sew up this tear. Hopefully it’ll be as good as new!”

                “You don’t have to,” Chloé said. “But thanks.”

                Another bell came from the front, and Madame Cheng excused herself. Marinette took the chance to drag Chloé up the stairs and into the living area.

                The first thing she noticed was the warmth. It wasn’t like the warmth of the bakery downstairs. It was more like the Christmas Party at Adrien’s. The warmth of people, even though she and Marinette were the only people in the house at the moment. That wasn’t a feeling she was used to in a house. It felt weird.

                Adrien’s house was too big for the amount of people in it. Maybe if it had the amount of staff that the hotel had. But there had only ever Adrien, his parents, the bodyguard, the assistant, and a chef or two. A cleaning crew came through once a week, but they never stayed more than that. The house had been even lonelier after Adrien’s mother had died.

                Sabrina’s house, while smaller, was just as empty. Her father working late most days, her mother in England. The warmest she had seen Sabrina’s house was when she had spent the night, and Sabrina introduced Chloé to her mom during a videocall.

                Then there was her own home. Chloé’s room had some warmth to it. It was her stuff, each with its’ own memories. But as soon as she stepped out of her room, it was just a hotel. It was a business. And each room was as impersonal as the next.

                Marinette’s home, however, was full of warmth. The kitchen had lunch dishes drying in a rack. The couch in the living room was well-used, with one or two mystery stains on the armrests. There were pictures. So many pictures. Some were from this year, but there were earlier ones, ones of Marinette as a young tween, or even as a little kid. They weren’t the professional ones either. They were posed, but taken by someone with a cheap camera, and they were allowed to look silly or give dorky smiles.

                Marinette’s room itself was an explosion of pink. Several pinks covered the room. Chloé was sure that if she looked around, she could find something he color of Alix’s hair. She smiled, spotting a pillow that looked like a good match. Then something else aught her attention. Many somethings.

                “Well, if I had any doubt about your crush on Adrien,” Chloé laughed.

                “Oh stars,” Marinette groaned. “You probably think that’s creepy. I swear I’m not some weird fangirl.”

                “You’re talking to the girl who has a custom cosplay of you,” she deadpanned. “One that I regularly wear while dragging friends and staff into a big roleplay group. I’m pretty sure that’s creepier than a bunch of pictures.”

                “Okay, but Ladybug is a hero,” she said. “That’s different.”

                “And Adrien is a literal model,” she replied. “Keeping pictures of your crush is pretty standard, but Adrien has so many pictures of him floating around. It would be creepy if you were using your Ladybug powers to hang outside his room and take your own pictures, but anything where he knows he’s being photographed is fair game.”

                “I guess,” she said. “Although, now you have more superheroes to add to the costume collection.

                “I also have more friends to put in costumes too,” she laughed. “Of course I’ll still have the Ladybug costume, but you could have first pick of the others. You would look great as Chat Noir. I bet Adrien would love that. Think he’d make a good Vixen?”

                Before Marinette could give a response, her phone started ringing. Chloé could see Alya’s picture on her phone screen. As Marinette hit the answer button, it sounded like the phone exploded.

                _"Can you believe this?!_ ” Alya shouted from the other end.

                “Volume!” Marinette chastised, holding the phone away from her face. “What happened?”

                “ _Nino!_ ” she shouted. “ _I asked him to record for the Ladyblog and-_ “

                “Why couldn’t you record?” she asked.

                “ _Not important!_ ” she said. “ _But I asked him to do it since I couldn’t, and he up and bails on me! Just hands it off, hands my phone too by the way, to Aurore!_ ”

                “Aurore Beauréal?” she asked.

                “ _Yeah!_ ” she said. “ _I mean, she was good. Figures, since she was almost Weather Girl she has some experience with reporting. She got great footage of Ladybug and Chat, the Akuma, and most importantly the new heroes, Jade Turtle and Vixen! She even got an interview with Vixen!_ ”

                “I bet that was difficult,” Chloé chuckled.

                There was a pause on the other end.

                “ _Was that Chloé?_ ” Alya asked, her volume finally down to acceptable levels.

                “Yes,” Chloé answered.

                “ _Are you alright?_ ” she asked. “ _I saw you during the attack and you looked pretty bad._ ”

                “Ladybug fixed me all up,” she said. “But thanks. And if you get another interview with the new heroes, can you thank them for me. You could even do some revenge flirting while you’re at it.”

                “ _Okay, I’m not mad enough at Nino for revenge flirting,_ ” she laughed. “ _Maybe if he drops the ball on recording a second time. But we did agree that superheroes are on the ‘if you get a chance, go for it and I won’t be mad’ list. Jade did look pretty cute. And you’re probably bored of how much I’ve said about Ladybug._ ”

                “No flirting with Vixen?” she teased. “You could use her name as a pick-up line!”

                “ _Been reading Chat Noir’s playbook, have you?_ ” she laughed.

                “Am I missing something?” Marinette asked, looking between Chloé and the phone.

                "Nope!” both of them answered.

                “ _Anyway, I have to go,_ ” Alya said. “ _See you tomorrow._ ”

                “Bye!” Marinette said.

                The phone clicked off. Neither of them really had any idea what to say. Eventually, someone had to speak.

                “How’d things go with Sabrina?” Marinette asked.

                “Not well,” Chloé looked away. “We ended up in a screaming match in the library.”

                “What happened?” she asked.

                “I-I told her I’ve been terrible,” she said. “That I’ve been purposely pushing her away and not even telling her about anything that matters to me. That I kept myself so closed off that she doesn’t even know me. She didn’t take it well. We started screaming, and then I ran out. And fell down the stairs into statue girl, who turned into an Akuma because I couldn’t watch where I was going.”

                “You can’t blame yourself for that,” she said.

                “I know I shouldn’t,” she sighed. “I don’t want to talk about this.’

                “You don’t have to right now,” she agreed. “But I am here if you need it.”

                Chloé looked around, trying to find something else to talk about. She saw the pictures again, reminding her of what they were talking about.

                “So your crush on Adrien,” Chloé said. “How does that mix with Chat Noir?”

                “What do you mean?” she asked, as if the redness in her face wasn’t a sign she knew.

                “It’s pretty easy to see that you do have some feelings for your hero partner,” she said. “It’s different than how you are with Adrien. I think it’s because whatever happened with you and Adrien was quick, like lightning. But most of Paris has watched you and Chat slowly come to trust one another.”

                “If I did like him,” she said. “It’s kind of impossible to do anything about it. It’s not like ‘Ladybug’ and ‘Chat Noir’ could just go out on dates.”

                “In that case, go for Adrien,” she suggested. “You don’t have to tell him you’re Ladybug unless you have to. Just don’t cheat on him with Chat. Or you could always go for Chat, and tell one another who you are.”

                Chloé smiled to herself at that. As if she could manage to cheat on him with himself.

                “Wait, you’re telling me to go for Adrien or Chat?” Marinette asked.

                “I’m not going to be overprotective of Adrien,” Chloé said. “Well, I am. Because if you break his heart I’ll break your soul. But I’m not going to be so overprotective that I’d stop you. Especially because I know you well enough to know you’re sincere.”

                “No, I meant, just last week you said you liked me,” she said. “I’d have thought you would be trying to keep me for yourself.”

                “First off,” she began, “Despite what my acting with Adrien might say, I’m not that jealous. Secondly, I don’t have much of a chance with you. By the time we’ve made up enough that you’d even consider dating me, who knows what would happen. Besides, my feelings toward you are in some weird limbo state anyway.”

                “Weird limbo state?” she asked.

                “How do I explain it?” she wondered. “I was in love with you, back when we first met. Over time it settled down to just generic thoughts instead of a full crush due to me convincing both of us that I don’t have a chance with you. Then Ladybug appeared, and I fell in love again. When I learned that you’re Ladybug, it balanced out. I like you more than I did, but not a full on crush. I don’t know where it’ll go from here, but I’m not going to pretend that you’re ‘mine’.”

                “Thanks?” she said. “I don’t know if ‘thanks’ is the right thing to say here. And if you do find someone else you like, I’d love to help set you up with them.”

                “Thanks,” she said.

                Two weeks ago, if someone had told either of them that they would one day be friends and actually get along, they probably would have just stared at them before busting out into laughter. Now, here they were talking, doing things together.

                They tried playing video games. Chloé surprised Marinette by being relatively good at Ultimate Mecha Strike III. Sure she didn’t beat her, but she held her own fairly well.

                “How do you think Adrien got good at this game?” Chloé teased when Marinette gave her a dumbfounded look. “I was the only person who could play with him.”

                There was a knock on the door to the room. Turning, the girls saw Marinette’s father popping his head in.

                “Sorry to interrupt,” he said. “We need Marinette for a few orders. It’s getting a little hectic down here.”

                “I’ll be down in a minute,” Marinette agreed.

                He nodded and headed back down. Marinette turned to Chloé.

                “You could always come down too,” Marinette offered. “We could teach you a few recipes.”

                “I’’ll take the cooking lesson when they’re not going to be sold,” Chloé said. “I’ll stay up here with Tikki.”

                She watched Marinette go down before relaxing for a moment. Tikki floated out of wherever she had been hiding when Marinette’s father came in.

                “Can I talk to you about something?” Chloé asked.

                “Sure,” Tikki agreed.

                “Is Marinette in trouble because I found out about Ladybug?” she asked.

                “No,” she answered. “Thank you for being concerned though.”

                “So, no consequences whatsoever for telling someone?” she asked.

                “It depends on who you tell,” she said.

                Chloé tilted her head in confusion. She waited for her to continue.

                “The Miraculous have power,” Tikki explained. “Some people would take advantage of that.”

                “More than just ‘superhero perks’?” Chloé asked.

                “Yes,” she nodded. “The Ladybug Miraculous creates things, the Black Cat destroys. And wielding both can do a lot of things, even bring back the dead.”

                “Really?” she asked. “People have speculated that Ladybug’s ‘fix-everything’ power could do that.”

                “Only if it’s caused by another Miraculous,” she answered. “No one Miraculous is more powerful than another, so if it’s caused by one, either directly or indirectly, she can fix it. But if someone died because of something unrelated, it wouldn’t do anything.”

                “So it’s true,” she said. “People online have been speculating that Hawkmoth had a Miraculous himself.”

                “Yes, the Butterfly,” she confirmed. “If used correctly, the Butterfly creates Champions, it gives power to normal people to be near-invincible warriors by tapping into emotions of love and wanting to protect.”

                “But he’s making monsters from pissed off kids,” she huffed, leaning back in the chair.  “How does a guy like that even get a Miraculous?”

                Tikki was suddenly quiet. She looked sad, and wouldn’t meet her eyes.

                “Are you not allowed to tell me?” Chloé asked.

                “I can,” Tikki said. “Kwami are fairly honest, so if you ask, we’ll usually answer. Usually. Plagg, the Black Cat, can deflect with sarcasm, and Trixx, the Fox, might not answer as a trick. But unless I think you’re better off knowing, I’ll answer.”

                “So if Marinette asked who Chat Noir is, you’d tell her?” she wondered.

                “Yes,” she answered.

                “So you know who he is,” she said.

                “Kwami can sense one another if we’re close by,” she said. “And it seems you know as well.”

                “Figured him out on day one,” she said. “After him and Marinette, figuring out Vixen and Jade were easy. The hard part will be getting them to stop fighting, because they’ll probably be upset that the other won’t tell them where they disappeared to. And stars forbid there’s another Akuma and neither of them can record for the blog again.”

                “Wayzz and Trixx,” she said. “The Turtle and Fox Kwami can help, if you get them alone.

                “And the Butterfly?” she asked.

                “Nooroo,” she said. “There are more Miraculous, but those are the only ones active at the moment.”

                “So, how did Hawkmoth end up with a Miraculous?” she asked.

                Tikki went quiet again.

                “Would it be better if I didn’t know?” Chloé asked.

                “In some ways,” she said. “But I can tell what I can. Usually, the Miraculous are held by a Guardian. The Guardian themselves was once a Miraculous Wielder, and chooses people to Wield the others. Usually.”

                “So something went wrong,” she guessed.

                “A while back, there were two heroes,” she said. “They were a lot quieter than Ladybug and Chat, becoming barely urban legend while fighting evil. The Peacock, and the Butterfly. They fought evil and fell in love, deciding to have a family and as normal a life as possible.

                “And then, the Butterfly died,” she continued. “Not by fighting evil, but normal, human, circumstances. A car accident. When the Guardian went to collect the Butterfly Miraculous, the Peacock told him that it was lost. That she had either hidden it somewhere, or it got lost in the crash and picked up by someone who had no idea of what it was.”

                “Do-do you think the Peacock guy might’ve lied?” she asked. “That he’s Hawkmoth?”

                “We’re nearly sure of it,” she said. “But there’s more to it than just telling Ladybug to waltz up to his house.”

                “A family, you said.” She recalled. “There’s a kid. And you have to think of a way to solve this without the kid losing another parent.”

                Tikki only nodded.

                “Do you think he’s doing this for his wife?” Chloé asked. “Hawkmoth never said he wanted world domination. Do you think he’s trying to bring her back?”

                “If it is him, probably,” Tikki confirmed.

                “Would it-would it be bad for that to happen?” she asked. “Like, would she be a zombie or something?”

                “Other than a magical burnout, both are physically fine,” she said. “But it’s not exactly the best thing.”

                “Why not?” she demanded. “Wouldn’t it be great to be able to bring someone back?”

                “Have you lost someone?” she asked. “Would you be able to bring yourself to do it?”

                Chloé looked away, curling up into the chair. In theory, it sounded good. Bringing people back to life. People whose lives had been cut too short. And yet….

                All she could think of was Felicia. Adrien’s mother. The woman who might as well be her mother as well, since her own had left years ago. It hadn’t yet been a full year since her death. All she could think of was how similar it was. A car crash. So random, and unpredictable, and there never really was any closure.

                She could do it, if she wanted. She could grab Marinette’s earrings, and either steal Adrien’s ring or convince him of what she was doing. She could bring Felicia back. The possibility was so real, she could just do it. But now that the idea was real, she felt a pit in her stomach.

                “No,” Chloé answered. “I don’t think I could.”

                “It’s okay,” Tikki said.

                Tikki brought herself to the side of Chloé’s face. She could feel her radiating that same energy she had the other week, when she had begun to break down. It was calming, helped her breathe. Had she been crying? She wasn’t sure. Then again, she’d been crying a lot lately.

                “Thanks,” Chloé said.

                “Look on the bright side,” Tikki said. “Now that I know you know about Chat Noir, we can bond by watching them be oblivious.”

                “Oh my stars, that just hit me!” she laughed. “She likes him, but she also likes him? And he likes both of her! They’re their own love square! Oh my stars!

                It took another twenty minutes before Marinette came back. Then another half hour for her mom to return Chloé’s jacket. Unfortunately, the stain hadn’t come out. Marinette offered to make her a new one, since it was Ladybug’s magic that failed to fix it. Chloé declined the offer, but appreciated the gesture. Though she had a sneaking suspicion that she’d make one anyway.

                Marinette offered to let her stay over, even though they had school the next day. Chloé declined that too. As much as she wanted comfort, she usually liked being alone when upset. Or at least ‘able to leave’ when someone comforts her.

                Eventually she called her father to be picked up. While he was confused at the fact that she was at the Dupain-Cheng bakery, he sounded happy that she was getting along with Marinette. He was also oddly forgiving about her broken phone.

                Getting home, she felt exhausted. Still, she tried to stay up a little longer. She decided to pick out a new outfit for tomorrow, since she couldn’t wear her usual without the shoe or jacket. The outfit she chose still had the color scheme she liked. A black top with a white skirt and black shoes as well. The skirt had a little bee stitched into it, ‘flying’ around the hem.

Eventually, she couldn’t resist the Siren Song that was her bed. Grabbing her laptop, she pulled up her music. True to form, she pulled up Katie Hokulani’s ‘Light, Magic, and Love’. She tried singing along.

“ _It’s a long, long day, but you’ve got to find your way_

_And the world won’t let you fall_

_So take the Light, the Magic, and the Love_

_And keep on standing proud and tall_ ”

She only got through two songs before she fell asleep. Thankfully, she didn’t have any dreams, and especially no nightmares about anything she feared would happen tomorrow.


	8. Chapter 8

                Chloé walked into class, expecting to pull Alya and Nino away to diffuse their situation. However, they were not yet there. Neither were Adrien and Marinette. Most of the class was there already though, including one sort-of-new addition.

                Lila. She’d been absent the last two weeks. From what she’d heard, the first day was recovering from being an Akuma. It was standard now, that if you were Akumatized you could have a day or two off.

                Then came ‘Rollersnake’. Someone happened to be in a tree in a park, and recorded a video of Ladybug calling Lila out for lying about knowing her, then submitted it to the Ladyblog. The comments on that were, for lack of a better phrase, ‘not nice’, and a fair amount crossed the line. Alya and Rollersnake, the username for the person who sent it, did try to delete those ones.

                But as Lila’s other lies fell apart around her, it induced lot more comments from other people in the school. Chloé herself hadn’t said anything yet, and most of the class was fairly civil considering, but they were still obviously upset. So Lila had disappeared for two weeks, but you can only fake being sick for so long.

                Chloé decided that Lila was a good chance for a fresh start. Okay, probably not a complete fresh start, as she had probably been warned to how Chloé was, but she hadn’t had a chance to do anything to her before deciding to be a better person. They didn’t have a history, so it would be easier to be friends. Plus, they both had something in common: everyone hated them.

                Chloé walked up to her desk, trying to think of starting topics. Maybe a compliment? She was pretty cute, but Chloé couldn’t exactly say that. Her jacket was nice, maybe she’d use that?

                “Hi,” Chloé said.

                She’d expected a few reactions. Mostly just a confused stare. What she didn’t expect was her practically jumping back in fear.

                “Get away from me!” Lila shouted.

                “I-I’m sorry,” Chloé said, backing up a step. “I guess people already told you about me.”

                “It’s okay!” Rose said, coming up behind Lila. “Chloé’s been trying to be a better person. It’s okay!”

                “Really?” Lila rolled her eyes. “Screaming at a girl until they become an Akuma is ‘being a better person”?

                There was a pause. Chloé felt as confused as everyone else looked.

                “What are you talking about?” Juleka asked.

                "I mean,” Lila said. “Is that yesterday I hear her screaming at someone in the library, and next thing I know there’s an Akuma hunting her down. It doesn’t take a genius to know what happened.”

                “You weren’t even here yesterday,” Kim pointed out.

                “Not in class,” she waved off the comment. “I had to come by to drop the last bit of paperwork off at the principals’ office. I heard her on the way out.”

                They looked to Chloé, waiting for a defense. She tried to say something, but she could barely move her mouth.

                “It’s not her fault!”

                Everyone’s eyes snapped to the front of the class. Sabrina had stood up and whirled around to face them, though she now looked like she wanted to sit back down.

                “I-it was me she was yelling at,” Sabrina explained. “But I yelled first. It was mutual yelling.”

                “So what?” Lila demanded. “It doesn’t change a thing!”

                “Well, it does,” Rose said. “I mean, Sabrina already was akumatized, and you can’t get Akumatized twice.”

                “Ivan did,” Kim said.

                “That was because of the butterfly,” Juleka said. “Ladybug has to purify the butterfly, and then you won’t turn again, and she did that for Sabrina.”

                “What about Alya and Nathaniel?” Mylène piped up.

                “That wasn’t getting Akumatized,” Nathaniel answered. “Uh, Puppeteer had dolls of Lady Wifi and me, er, Evillustrator, that she was controlling. It made us look like our Akumatized selves, but we were, well, puppets.”

                “Besides,” Max said. “Sabrina was invisible as an Akuma, not Medusa. And if you paid any attention to the reports, the girl was named Valerie.”

                “So I was wrong about that,” Lila admitted. “It doesn’t mean that she didn’t scream at someone else until they were an Akuma. That thing was hunting her down, so she had to do something to it. So, forgive me for not thinking she’s changed from what I was warned about.”

                They looked at Chloé again, but she couldn’t answer them. There wasn’t a way out. She’d caused an Akuma, even though she was trying to be better. It didn’t matter how.

                She could hear the whispers already. They’d hate her again. They’d think she’s just as terrible as before. But it’d be worse. Because she’d been trying, because she’d have something to lose.

                “Hold it!” Alix shouted, stomping up to Lila’s desk. “How about you shut up about things you know nothing about?”

                “Know nothing about?” Lila laughed. “Please! It’s simple. Don’t Akumas always go after the person who made them upset?”

                “Yeah, Chloé technically caused an akuma,” she replied. “But she did it by falling down a freaking staircase! Valerie and her statue were on the way up, and got knocked over!”

                “And what’s your proof of that?” she demanded. “Other than ‘your word’ of course!”

                “Check the Ladyblog!” she said. “There’s video of the Akuma attacking us, and of the new heroes saving us! You can see her wearing the ankle and wrist braces I gave her because, you know, she fell down the stairs and I figured I should get her to a hospital or something? She’s lucky Ladybug can fix that stuff!”

                “But if you want to talk ‘video proof’,” she continued, lowering her voice. “Then you might want to stop trying to turn people against my friend. Because you’re lucky I was nice enough to only post half of the video.”

                “You were the one-“ she began.

                “Oh, I get it,” Chloé laughed, despite the tension. “’Rollersnake’. That’s cute.”

                “Yeah, well, I broke my phone getting that video,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck. “No one notices the girl in a tree, so when the girl who says she’s ‘bffs with Ladybug!’ shows up in the park alone, waiting to meet someone, I figure it’s Ladybug. Of course, she showed up later.”

                “Didn’t take you for the ‘posting incriminating videos’ type,” she smirked.

                “Yeah, well, not usually,” she frowned. “If I’d caught her, I don’t know, singing embarrassing pop songs I would’ve just deleted it. But people need to know when she’s manipulating everyone.”

                “So you’re going to blackmail me?” Lila said. “Just because I’m concerned that your ‘friend’ is going to attack me? Talk about manipulation!”

                “No,” she frowned. “I don’t know what your goal is with trying to make her seem worse. Maybe you want everyone to be mad at her so they’ll forget about you, but I don’t care. I kept the first half of the video because I wanted to give you a chance. But you’re going after my friend, so no, I’m not going for blackmail. I’ll just tell her.”

                “What are you talking about?” Chloé asked.

                Ignoring Lila’s anger, Alix turned to Chloé.

                “Before Ladybug got there,” Alix explained. “Lila here was trying to convince Adrien that she was a superhero, just so he would try and date her. Even bought a fake Miraculous and everything.”

                Chloé took a moment to process what was just said. This girl had tried to manipulate her best friend into being with her. She felt rage wash over her. Suddenly she was glad Alix had posted that video.

                “Stars, I’m glad I can’t be an Akuma again,” Chloé sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Because honestly? Right now would be a great time!”

                “What?” Lila asked. “Upset you didn’t try it first? From what I’ve heard, you’re no stranger to doing anything to get what you want. Heard you once locked a girl in the bathroom just to stand next to Adrien in a school photo. All’s fair in love and war and all that.”

                “Okay, I’m trying to be a better person right now,” she stated, keeping a hold on her anger. “That is the only reason I haven’t tried to punch you in the face. However, that’s just me. How do you think everyone else is going to react to this?”

                Lila stole a glance at the rest of the class. Some were still in shock, others had switched to anger. While she doubted they’d actually attack her, Chloé knew that a lot of them cared about one another, that they’d protect one another. She’d seen that protection turned against her plenty of times.

                “Fine,” Lila said, standing up. “You win, for now.”

                “Where are you going?” Chloé asked.

                “Who cares!” she answered, walking out the door. “Another day absent won’t matter at this point.”

                It was only a moment after she left that Chloé’s rage collapsed, bringing back fear and relief right after one another. She pulled Alix into a hug.

                “Thank you!” Chloé exclaimed. “I-I thought you were going to turn against me for getting that girl turned into an Akuma. I don’t want to lose you guys now! I like having you guys like me and I’m sorry for that breaking that statue and all. And seriously thank you for not abandoning me because oh stars that would’ve been so much worse now because I actually have you guys and oh stars thank you.”

                “Hey, it’s okay,” Alix said.

                “Um, sorry for whatever made you think we’d leave you,” Rose said. “After all, Akumas are pretty easy to cause. Even Marinette caused a couple.”

                “And Ladybug too,” Max said. “Not that I need to remind you about Akumas Ladybug caused.”

                “Yeah,” Chloé half-chuckled. “You really don’t.”

                “By the way,” Alix said, reaching over to her backpack. “Here’s your shoe back, Cinderella. And I managed to save your wallet. Your phone and makeup were busted, and I tried to get the tire tracks out of the purse, but that stuff didn’t come out.”

                “Thanks,” she gave a half laugh, taking the shoe and wallet.

                “Sorry for telling her about the bathroom thing,” Juleka said. “How was falling down the stairs? Are you okay?”

                “Well, it hurt,” she answered. “But I was probably okay.”

                “Yeah, no thanks to me,” Alix said, smacking her forehead. “I really should’ve ran and got someone instead of trying to have you half-walk to Marinette’s. After I left I thought of so many things that could’ve gone wrong if your injuries were worse than I thought.”

                “Okay, but I’m fine,” she said, sticking out her leg and moving her foot around for emphasis. “Besides, if you left me, who knows what else might’ve happened.”

                “For all I know, I could’ve made it worse,” she said. “If it weren’t for Ladybug, I could’ve messed them up so much that we’d have to chop them off! And then, naturally, that’d mean we’d have to shove Adrien into a suit of armor.”

                Maybe it was just the emotional whiplash of the whole morning, but she snorted at the joke. Then it turned into full on giggles.

                "Did you-“ Alix began. “Did you just snort-laugh at a Fullmetal Alchemist joke?”

                “Were you setting that up?” Chloé asked, still laughing. “It felt like a setup.”

                “Yeah,” she admitted. “I was hoping you’d ask what I was talking about, and then I could suggest we watch the series on Saturday. But you’ve already seen it?”

                “Y-yeah,” she said. “Adrien made me watch a lot of things.”

                “So what you’re saying is that you’re secretly a total nerd,” she laughed.

                “No, I’m totally not a ‘nerd’,” she defended. “Adrien’s a nerd. He just made me watch a bunch of shows and play a few games since I was his only friend for years. And they happened to be decently good shows and games, but that doesn’t make me a nerd.”

                “No, liking ‘nerdy’ things doesn’t make you a nerd,” she rolled her eyes. “But something tells me that the Ladybug costume you have isn’t your first cosplay.”

                “I am not answering that!” She pouted and turned away.

                “I can always ask Adrien!” she said.

                She really hoped Adrien had become a better liar since he got a secret identity. Or that he won’t show the pictures since they included him dressed as a Cardcaptor. Chloé burst out laughing again.

                “Remembering a costume?” Alix asked.

                “No, just thinking about that ‘shove Adrien into a suit of armor’ thing,” she laughed. “He makes a great Alphonse. He has the hair, the whole ‘ray of sunshine with hidden sass’ thing. And he really likes cats. Like, really, really likes cats.”

                “Likes cats or likes ‘cats’,” she asked.

                She had that look on her face. It was a look that usually was followed by ‘hold my drink and watch this!’. Thankfully, there wasn’t much to jump off of.

                “Hey, Max!” Alix exclaimed. “I think I have another bet to put down!”

                “Oh no,” Max groaned.

                “A bet?” Chloé asked.

                “Yeah,” Alix said, pulling her over to the desk. “You haven’t been involved because, well, you know. But we bet on a lot of things. Kim’s challenges, who’ll be the next Akuma, all sorts of things! But, one of the biggest ones, and the one filled with the most ‘joke bets’ is the romance section!”

                “You bet on romance?” she asked.

                “Yeah!” she said. “It could be anything from betting on who will get together, to just betting on who likes who. It’s mostly kept to just us classmates, but we did add Ladybug and Chat Noir as a joke. Mostly because Alya wrote a note with her and Nino’s numbers on it and stuck in Chat’s belt last time he saved her.”

                “I didn’t know she did that,” she laughed, making a mental note to tease Adrien later. “Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t know, because I would’ve cleaned you out.”

                “That confident are we?” she asked.

                “Yeah,” she said. “But what are you betting on?”

                “Well, you said Adrien likes cats, right?” she asked. “Think he likes Chat Noir?”

                Chloé’s brain short circuited for what felt like the fifth time that morning.

                “Well, they’d definitely get along,” was Chloé’s answer.

                “Alix, I know it’s a joke bet,” Kim said, “But you’re going down. Because they’re probably both straight.”

                “No one who wears a leather cat outfit is straight, Kim!” Alix retorted.

                “And Adrien’s surrounded by other literal models all the time,” Rose commented. “Literally the hottest people in the city. If he hasn’t at least found an ‘exception’ by now, there’s no hope for romance.”

                “Wait, Chloé,” Alix turned to her. “You know Adrien. Is he straight or not?”

                “I do not know if I can answer that question,” Chloè answered carefully.

                “We can always be direct!” she said, looking over her shoulder.

                Turning, Chloé saw Adrien walking in with his usual quartet. Alya and Nino weren’t speaking to one another, but Adrien and Marinette were trying to get them back into it. She debated grabbing them and sorting out their issues before class, but she’d forgotten about Alix.

                “Hey Adrien!” Alix called across the room. “Are you gay?”

                Adrien gave her a confused look, but Marinette tripped and flew two feet forward to the ground

                “Wh-why is that a question?” Adrien asked.

                “Chloé said a thing about you liking cats,’ Alix shrugged. “And I wondered if it meant you liked Chat Noir, and now we’re wondering if there’s actually a chance at you making out with Chat Noir.”

                “I am so, so sorry,” Chloé whispered.

                “Would you or would you not be into making out with Chat Noir?” she asked.

                Adrien just stared at her. Marinette looked like she was trying, and failing, to not imagine said making out.

                “Well, he’s probably hot enough to be a model,” Adrien answered.

                “No one’s going to judge you,” Alix said. “Most everyone here as said something about wanting to make out with both heroes.”

                “Yeah,” Chloé agreed, laughing a bit too much. “After all, I just found out that Alya and Nino gave Chat their numbers. You might have some competition!”

                “In my defense,” Nino said, “Have you seen Chat Noir? I’m straight, but damn if that ass doesn’t make me question some things.”

                Chloé laughed at Adrien’s expressions. She wondered who would die of embarrassment first if they knew he was Chat Noir. She also wondered if she could push the joke to the point where Adrien would admit to being Chat just to stop it all. Then again, that might be too mean.

                “If you don’t want to answer that,” Alix said, sending a smirk Chloé’s way, “you could always tell us whether Chloé here has had more cosplays than just the Ladybug suit!”

                “You wouldn’t,” Chloé gasped.

                “Well, since you started this” Adrien chuckled, pulling out his phone, “I do have a few pictures from last year.”

                “Nope!” she shouted.

                Chloé tackled him, yanking the phone out of his hands. She stretched her arm out to keep it away from him, but he stretched just as far. Curse his long arms. She did the only thing she could think of, and slipped the phone into her shirt.

                “That’s not fair,” Adrien pouted.

                “Too bad,” she said, sticking her tongue out at him.

                “Honestly, that was enough of an answer for me,” Alix laughed.

                Chloé felt her face turning red as she went over what she’d just done.

                Thankfully, she was saved by the teacher coming in. Everyone had to calm down and go to their seats. She could still feel her ears burning as they whispered, but she was glad that it was more friendly teasing than the whispers she used to hear from them.

                As the class started, Chloé glanced to Sabrina sitting next to her. She debated about talking to her, but she knew their teacher would call her out on it. Of course, she could always use the ‘don’t put me in detention because my dad is the mayor!’ card, but she’d figured out playing that hand wasn’t really helpful to being a better person.

                She settled for writing a note instead.

                “ _Thanks for standing up for me,_ ” she wrote. “ _I would’ve understood if you hadn’t. I’m still sorry about what I did. And I’d like if we could be friends again. Real friends, where I can share things with you, and you don’t have to do my homework or pretend I’m perfect._ ”

                She slid the note over the desk. Honestly, she didn’t hope for a response, but she was glad when she got one.

                “ _I’m sorry too,_ ” Sabrina wrote back. “ _I shouldn’t have reacted like I did. I’d like to be friends again, but I need some time to think this out._ ”

                She smiled. It wasn’t exactly what she’d like, but it was a start.

 

* * *

 

                She had to wait until the end of class before dragging Alya and Nino off to talk. As she walked up to do said dragging, she heard Alix start talking to her.

                “Hey, Chlo!” Alix exclaimed. “Watch this!”

                She watched Alix run up to the desk behind Kim, and climb on top. Before Kim could even think to look at the sound of sneakers-on-desktop behind him, Alix jumped and wrapped her arms around his neck.

                As strong as he was, and as small as Alix was, Kim wasn’t strong enough to stay up with an extra hundred pounds around his neck. They crashed backwards. Kim looked like he was slightly dying, but Alix just climbed out from under him and waved.

                Chloé laughed and waved back before going back to what she had been planning on.

                “Hey, you two!” Chloé said, grabbing both Alya and Nino’s wrists. “We need to talk!”

                Before they could ask why, she dragged them out of the class and down a hall. She pulled them into the first empty classroom she saw. That was a familiar feeling. Why was she always with Superheroes in empty classrooms?

                “What’s going on?” they both asked before glaring at one another.

                "Okay, I know her problem with you,” Chloé said, turning to Nino, “But what’s your problem with her?”

                “She won’t tell me where she went,” he said. “She shoved her phone at me and ran off, but I have no idea why!”

                “Well you won’t tell me where you went!” Alya retorted. “Honestly, I’m not even mad about you giving Aurore my phone anymore. Just tell me why you did it!”

                “I literally can’t tell you,” he stated. “But you still won’t tell me even though you want me to tell you?”

                “Well, I can’t tell you either!” she shouted.

                “Yes, you can,” Chloé said.

                “You know exactly why I can’t tell him!” Alya said.

                “So Chloé can know but I can’t?” Nino said.

                “You need to tell her too,” Chloé said. “And before you ask, yes I know exactly why you disappeared. Now you both need to tell each other why you disappeared.”

                “I can’t!” they both insisted.

                “Okay, I am done playing nice!” she said. “Wayzz, Trixx, I know you’re both here, so please talk some sense into these two!”

                “How did you-“ both tried to ask.

                They were interrupted by giggling. The voice sounded almost mischievous, as if they were setting up a joke.

                “Looks like we’ve blown our cover!” the voice said.

                A Kwami gently flew out of Alya’s hair. It was small, orange, and definitely a fox. Glinting purple eyes and a half-smile matched its voice.

                “Curious,” said another voice.

                The voice was calm, even more so than Tikki. A green Kwami appeared, and she could only guess the second voice belonged to him.

                “What’s curious?” Chloé asked.

                “You are,” Wayzz answered. “You do not wield a Miraculous, yet you know of us.”

                “Who cares why!” Trixx exclaimed. “I’m just glad these two aren’t going to fight anymore! It’s ridiculous!”

                Chloé looked to Alya and Nino, who were staring at both Kwamis before staring at eachother. She expected them to scream or something.

                “We are never allowed to call Adrien and Mari oblivious ever again,” the two of them agreed.

                “Good to know I’m not the only one who thinks they need to go for it,” Chloé laughed.

                “Well, now that we know you’re on board,” Alya said, sliding beside her. “You can help us set them up!”

                “Alya, no,” Nino sighed.

                “Alya yes!” Trixx replied.

                “Setting them up might be harder than you think,” Chloé said.

                “Thinking about Mari’s thing for Chat Noir?” Alya asked. “She won’t admit it be we all know it.”

                “Plus Adrien’s head over heels for Ladybug,” Nino agreed. “I mean, they obviously like each other, but I think that whole ‘I like someone else too’ thing is getting in the way.”

                “You have no idea,” Chloé muttered.

                “You know what would be hilarious?” Alya asked. “If they were Ladybug and Chat Noir!”

                “Oh stars!” Nino laughed. “Can you imagine! Them falling for each other twice and not knowing it?”

                “Especially because if they knew it would solve all their problems!” she said.

                “I mean, Adrien definitely likes puns enough to be Chat Noir,” he said. “And be lucky you didn’t have to help with his cheesy poetry on Valentines day.”

                “And Mari does have leadership and quick-thinking skills,” she mused, smile turning into a thoughtful frown. “And as clumsy as she is, you should see her reflexes.”

                “And they both look similar,” he said, tilting his head.

                “We-we’re not seriously considering this, are we?” she asked.

                “Well, it’d be pretty hilarious,” Chloé said, trying not to laugh. “And not frustrating as hell for everyone involved.”

                They were all quiet for a moment. Nino and Alya considered the facts. Chloé looked to the Kwami. Wayzz had a good pokerface, but Trixx was holding in laugher.

                “Chloé,” Alya began, oddly serious. “How did you know about Trixx?”

                “Wayzz said you didn’t have a Miraculous,” Nino stated. “But you knew about Kwami, even their names.”

                "Before I say anything,” Chloé defended, “This conversation is not my fault at all.”

                “Oh stars, they are Ladybug and Chat Noir,” Alya gasped. “How’d you figure it out?”

                “Figured Adrien on day one,” she shrugged. “Found out about Marinette when she jumped into the wrong classroom to transform. It was back when she fought Silencer.”

                “This is so weird,” Nino said. “I-I don’t get why I didn’t see it before.”

                “I think it’s just suspension of disbelief,” she said. “Like, even though you know Ladybug and Chat Noir are people our age who live in our city, and honestly probably live in our area considering their reaction times to Akumas, you’d never think they’d be someone you actually know unless it’s someone you’ve known all your life and could recognize anywhere.

                “Then, you figure out one,” she continued, “But there couldn’t possibly be two. Then there is two. So after that, the suspension of disbelief is broken, and next time you look at someone in a superhero costume, you’re just like ‘yep, that’s the kid from my class’.”

                “And that’s how you figure out us,” Nino sighed, taking his glasses off to rub his face.

                “Pretty much,” she said.

                “Was it Plagg or Tikki who told you about us?” Wayzz asked.

                “Tikki, actually,” she answered. “I haven’t gotten a chance to formally meet Plagg yet. By the way, she wanted me to say hello for her.”

                She gave them a moment to let it sink in. Wondering what these two Kwami liked to eat, she thought of another thing. And if she was thinking of it, the rest would catch on. She caught Trixx’s eye, and judging by the gleaming, she could guess she was thinking the same thing,

                “Want to start the countdown?” Chloé asked.

                “What countdown?” Alya asked.

                “This is gonna be great!” Trixx said, ignoring her Chosen.

                “Three, two, one!” they counted in unison.

                At the end of the countdown, both Nino and Alya screamed.

                “Oh my stars!” Alya shouted. “Marinette’s heard everything I ever said about Ladybug! I think I might die!”

                “You think you’ll die?” Nino screamed. “I literally just said ‘I’m straight but damn if Chat Noir’s ass doesn’t make me question some things’ to Adrien’s face!”

                “You know,” Chloé laughed, “I was going to let you guys freak out over this another time, but wow am I glad I got to see this!”

                “This is beautiful!” Trixx cackled, clutching her stomach.

                “Most Miraculous Chosen usually end up developing romances with their teammates,” Wayzz said, giving Nino’s head comforting pats. “Although, they usually happen well after working together.”

                “Does it really happen that often?” Chloé asked.

                “Oh yes!” he answered. “When you are so close with someone that you trust them with your life, romance tends to follow. Of course, matchups aren’t always the same. Ladybugs and Black Cats usually end up together, as they are two parts of a whole, but there have been infinite combinations over the years, and more than once were there multiple together.”

                “Huh,” she said. “Well, Alya did say ‘superheroes are on the ‘go for it and I won’t be mad’ exception list, so I guess it still counts.”

                “I’m going to go jump in the Seine,” Nino said.

                “No need for that,” she laughed. “But good luck looking Adrien in the face next time you see one another.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is going to be fun. So much fun.


End file.
